Silas & Rebecca … Now at the IRIS Awards …

Last post I related that two of my images have recently been selected as Finalists in the Fremantle International Portrait Prize

Now I have just learnt that one of the two has also been selected as a Finalist in the Perth Centre for Photography “IRIS Award” for portraiture … and that is bloody satisfying as it’s a ‘first’ for me.

Here’s how the IRIS Award describes itself … “The Award is an international prize recognising new and outstanding portraiture in photographic art. The criteria for selection focuses on portraits that are unique, compelling and engaging whilst maintaining excellence in photography. Concept, meaning and depth are equally as important as well executed work. Originality is essential and the award encourages work that is evocative and provocative and in some ways may be relevant to the current global cultural landscape.”

This year the award was judged by the highly esteemed and Internationally distributed GUP Magazine (Guide to Unique Photography) based in the Netherlands.

It seems this pic (below) met their criteria … “Generations – Aurukun” of Silas and Rebecca Wolmby and their great grand children. That in itself is rewarding, as the pic … originally made in 2016 during a News Ltd job in the Cape York indigenous township … thereafter languished forgotten and unloved in my archive until I again chanced upon it a few months ago. Since then it’s been around. The pic was Shortlisted and book published in the Magnum and British Journal of Photography ‘Portrait of Humanity’ project … and selected as a Finalist in the FIPP.

Very sadly, the wonderful gent Silas has since passed on. However, I hope to be travelling to Aurukun again in the near future and will make sure that Rebecca and the Wolmby family receive a big copy of the image.

The exhibition opening and prize announcement of the IRIS Award is on Friday 18th October at the Perth Centre for Photography Gallery, 357 Murray Street, Perth … just one week after the opening and prize announcement of the FIPP in Fremantle. WA friends … you are warned … 🙂

Image © Brian Cassey

IRIS Awards - Perth Centre for Photography - Finalist - "Generations - Aurukun' by Brian Cassey