Bowness Photography Prize

The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize is an Australian prize for photography awarded by the Museum of Australian Photography. The prize first awarded in 2006. The prize money for the award in 2017 is A$30000

History
Established in 2006 to promote excellence in photography, the annual William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize is an initiative of the MGA Foundation.

The Bowness Photography Prize has quickly become Australia's most important photography prize. It is also one of the country's most open prizes for photography. In the past, finalists have included established and emerging photographers, art and commercial photographers. All film-based and digital work from amateurs and professionals is accepted. There are no thematic restrictions. In its first year the winner was awarded $10,000. As the prize grew in prominence the prize money also increased; since 2017 the winner has been awarded $30,000. The winning work is acquired into the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) collection.

Each year three Honourable Mentions are also acknowledged, along with the Smith & Singer People's Choice Award of $5,000 which is announced at the end of the exhibition.

The Wai Tang Commissioning Award is an initiative of the MAPh Foundation as part of the Bowness Photography Prize. Paula Mahoney was the first artist selected from the 2021 Bowness Photography Prize to be awarded the $10,000 commission and the second in 2022 was Janelle Low. Their exhibitions coincided with the Bowness Photography Prize exhibition the following year, with one work entering MAPh's significant collection of Australian photographs in honour of Wai Tang’s legacy. The 2023 recipients are The Huxleys (Will Huxley and Garrett Huxley).

Wai Tang served on MAPh’s Committee of Management from 2018 until she died in 2020. Tang’s expertise included more than 30 years of experience in the retail and fashion industries where she held senior executive roles and non-executive directors’ roles in public and private companies. Her commitment to the visual and performing arts was demonstrated through her leadership roles and philanthropic support (and she had a true passion for fashion). The Wai Tang Commissioning Award has been established by her husband, Kee Wong, to recognise and honour her significant impact on the arts and preserve her legacy within MAPh’s collection and exhibition history.

2017
In 2017 the prize money awarded has been increased to $30,000 and for the first time, the winning work will be acquired for the Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection.

The finalists for 2017 have been announced, the exhibition will include 59 works from 61 artists.

2006
Kathy Mackey with "Reliquary 1" a pigment ink-jet print on cotton paper from an unnamed series of young women juxtaposing human skin with metallic and reflective objects.

2007
Ray Cook with "For God's sake, somebody throw a pie" a gelatin silver print from the series "Oblivion"

2008
Nat Thomas and Concertina Inserra with "Portrait of mother and daughter" a chromogenic print from the series "after Mirka" inspired by the artist Mirka Mora

2009
Paul Knight with "14 months #01" a chromogenic print from an unnamed series of photographs showing couples in sexual embraces from an aerial perspective.

2010
Lee Grant with "Mary with her daughters Aja and Adau, and her granddaughter Nankir" a pigment ink-jet print from the series "New Australians: Sudanese migrants in suburbia"

2011
Jacky Redgate with "Light throw (mirrors) #4" a chromogenic print from the still-life series "Light throw (mirrors) 2010–11"

2012
Jesse Marlow with "Laser vision" a chromogenic print from the street photography series "Don't just tell them, show them"

2013
Pat Brassington with "Shadow boxer" a pigment ink-jet print from the series "Quill"

2014
Petrina Hicks with "Venus" a pigment ink-jet print from the series "The shadows" using portraiture to deal with ideas of beauty and representation in art history.

2015
Joseph McGlennon with "Florilegium #1" a pigment ink-jet print from the series "Florilegium" showing animals in exotic landscapes inspired by naturalist Joseph Banks

2016
Valerie Sparks won $25,000 with "Prospero's Island – North East" a pigment ink-jet print from the series "Prospero's Island", which digitally combined images of Tasmania to become the setting of Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

2017
The winner of the 2017 Bowness Photography prize was announced on 19 October 2017. Polixeni Papapetrou won with her work ‘Delphi’ (2016) a pigment ink-jet print from the series "Eden" depicting young women wearing floral dresses in front of floral backgrounds; merging figure and ground. Three honorable mentions were awarded to Del Kathryn Barton, Danica Chappell and Jenny Pollak.

2018
The winner of the 2018 Bowness Photography prize was announced on 11 October 2018. Melbourne-based, Iranian-born artist Hoda Afshar won for her photograph ‘Portrait of Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island’ (2018) a pigment ink-jet print from the series "Remain". Three honorable mentions were awarded to Shelley Horan, Darren Sylvester and Cyrus Tang.

2019
Katrin Koenning with "Three" a triptych of pigment ink-jet prints from the series "Lake Mountain" showing bushland recovering from bushfires.

2020
Christian Thompson with "Rule of three" four chromogenic prints from the series "Flower walls 2018–" showing the artist immersed in colourful arrangements of Australian native flora.

2021
Lillian O'Neil with "Drawing to a close" a collage of black and white pigment ink-jet prints.

2022
Amos Gebhardt with "Wallaby" a chromogenic print on a light box from an unnamed series of native animal x-rays.