Page 3 - Australian Photography - September 2017

EDITOR’S NOTE

ESTABLISHED IN 1950
EDITORIAL
Editor: Mike O’Connor Justine Varga’s Maternal
mikeoconnor@yaffa.com.au Line. Controversy was
Contributing Editors: Mick Fletoridis, always bound to occur
Rob Ditessa, Drew Hopper, Prashphutita with such an unorthodox
Greco, Anthony McKee and Saima Morel. winner of the widely
regarded Olive Cotton
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National Sales Manager: Jodie Reid Award for portraiture.
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(02) 9213 8209 mattporter@yaffa.com.au
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Customer Service Manager: A FINE LINE CREDIT: JUSTINE VARGA
Martin Phillpott
Australian Photography
is published by Yaffa Media Pty Ltd.
ABN 54 002 699 354
17-21 Bellevue Street,
Surry Hills, NSW 2010. MIKE O’C O NNOR, EDIT OR As judge Lakin says, “It’s a very complex photo-
Ph: (02) 9281 2333 graphic portrait: it made me think a lot about the act
Fax: (02) 9281 2750
of the making of a portrait – about what it means today
All mail to: to make a photograph of someone else, even if in the
o, should it have won? It’s the question that’s end it doesn’t reveal what they look like.”
probably been on a few people’s lips ever since But at the same time you can’t just put a dog col-
the 2017 Olive Cotton Award for portraiture was lar on a cat and enter it into a dog show: it’s a pho-
GPO Box 606, Sydney NSW 2001 Sannounced in late July. tography competition after all. It wasn’t taken with a
Yaffa Photographic Group The winning shot, Maternal Line by photographer camera, doesn’t look like a traditional portrait and to
includes: Australian Justine Varga, was definitely what you might call a ‘dif- most viewers at least, tells us nothing about the sub-
Photography, Capture,
www.australianphotography.com ferent’ take on the classic portrait shot. Featuring her ject. Even Varga herself sensed the unease when she
grandmother’s scrawled pen marks and saliva on a piece was awarded the prize. “I could feel it in the room that
www.facebook.com/ of film, it was not shot with a camera, yet it still took out people weren’t happy about it,” she said.
australianphotographymag
the top gong and received a $20,000 prize in what is eas- So should it have won? For the simple reason that
Publisher: James Ostinga ily one of our most prestigous photography competitions. it’s got people talking, and potentially reconsidering
Marketing Manager: Sabarinah Elijah As you might expect, there’s been some robust con- what portraiture is, it’s been a fine winner. If photog-
Marketing Executive: Emilie McGree
Production Director: Matthew Gunn versations about its validity as a winner, to the point raphy isn’t willing to break through boundaries, won’t
Art Director: Ana Maria Heraud where judge Dr Shaune Lakin, a senior curator of pho- we still be producing the same work we do now in a
Studio Manager: Lauren Esdaile tography at the National Gallery of Australia, said he hundred years time? It’s a controversial pick obviously,
Designer: Stéphanie Blandin de Chalain had received hate mail about his choice, and criticism but maybe it’s come at the right time. On the other
All editorial contributions should be sent that the winner was only chosen to stir up controversy. hand, it’s easy to think of the award as a slap in the face
to editor@australianphotography.com If you were to look at the traditional definition of a to those who interpreted the rules of the competition
Australian Photography welcomes freelance portrait – a painting, drawing, photograph, or engrav- to the letter and expected to be judged based on those
contributions. Please check with the editor ing of a person, especially one depicting only the face very rules. Whatever your view, you can’t argue that
before submitting your story. Editorial
guidelines are available via email and include or head and shoulders, it’s pretty hard to see how it it’s divided opinion, and that’s something all great art,
full details on all requirements for story and could win. But then again, who ever expected curators and great photographs, have the power to do. ❂
image submissions. Please note that stories of art to respect traditition? We’ve always said that the
should be embedded in the body of the email,
or supplied as email attachments in text format secret to great portraiture is revealing something about
(.txt), rich text format (.rtf) or Microsoft your subject – and obviously to Varga and the judges,
Word format (.doc). Ideally, images should be
supplied in JPEG format (.jpg) with a separate Maternal Line does exactly that. It may not be easy for
list of captions. JPEG compression should us to comprehend as a viewer, but does that make it any
be no lower than 9/12 (75%). Digital images less valid as an entry? As Varga herself says, “there is
should be supplied at a resolution of 300ppi,
at a physical size of at least 20cm and not no separation between the subject and the materials.”
larger than 42cm on the longest side. Surely this is about as close as we can get to the subject
ISSN 0004-9964 being at the very heart of the final product?

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