Bowness Photography Prize
We’re delighted to share that Justine Varga has been announced as a finalist in the 2026 Bowness Photography Prize.
Now in its 21st year, The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize is an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia and one of the most prestigious prizes in the country. The winner takes home $50,000, with a $10,000 Wai Tang Commissioning Award, two $2,500 honourable mentions and a $5,000 RACV People's Choice.
The 21st Bowness Photography Prize, curated by MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea, will be presented from 12 September to 8 November 2026 at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill. Opening night and winner announcement on Thursday 17 September.
Pictured: Justine Varga, Concussion #1, 2026, from the series ‘Concussion’, chromogenic print, 186 x 136 cm. Image courtesy of the artist
Congratulations to Narelle Autio and Janet Laurence who have been selected as finalists in the 2022 Bowness Photography Prize!
Over the last 16 years, the Bowness Photography Prize has emerged as an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia and one of the most prestigious prizes in the country. The winning work will be awarded $30,000 and will be acquired into Monash Gallery of Art’s nationally significant collection of Australian photographs.
This prize will be announced on Thursday 6th of October. The exhibition will be on display from 29 September to 13 November at the Monash Gallery of Art.
Congratulations to Justine Varga who has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 Bowness Photography Prize for her chromogenic photographic work Shiaparelli. This work will be featured as part of Justine Varga’s upcoming exhibition ‘Masque’ to be presented at Hugo Michell Gallery in November 2021.
About the work, Varga says:
“When we look at photographs, we are generally asked to view them as a window onto another place and time. Echoing a famously shocking hue, Schiaparelli ruptures this convention by asking the viewer to simultaneously look through and at its photographicness, and from its centre to its edge. The matrix from which this photograph is derived is a negative on which I have inscribed saliva, urine, bath water, ink and paint, mingled materials of genealogical and historical remembering. This photograph also deliberately draws our attention to its margins, an area of the photograph created during the printing process itself. Refusing to give up any easy meaning, Schiaparelli stages an encounter with the viewer, an experience as much as a document.”
Over the last 16 years, the Bowness Photography Prize has emerged as an important annual survey of contemporary photographic practice in Australia and one of the most prestigious prizes in the country. The winning work will be awarded $30,000 and will be acquired into Monash Gallery of Art’s nationally significant collection of Australian photographs.
The exhibition will be on display from Thursday 9th of September until 7th November at the Monash Gallery of Art.
Congratulations to Justine Varga, who has been announced as a finalist in the 2015 Bowness Photography Prize! Now in its 10th year, the non-acquisitive prize was established to promote excellence in Australian Contemporary photography. The finalists will be exhibited at the Monash Gallery of Art, open from 25 September with an official launch on 1 October, when the winner will be announced.
For more details, visit www.mga.org.
Image: Justine Varga, Enter, 2015, from Accumulate, type C hand print, 123.5 x 98.5 cm, ed. of 5.