Stuart Spence has been shortlisted as one of 48 finalists in the esteemed National Photographic Portrait Prize with his portrait of Grace Tame, "Between the Sea and the Sky" 2025.

This year’s judging panel includes writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law, Serena Bentley (Senior Curator, National Portrait Gallery), and Leigh Robb (Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of South Australia). The exhibition opens at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra on 16 August and runs through 12 October 2025, before touring nationally.

‘People are malleable entities, adapting, skewing, feeling, often hundreds of times a day. So when an artist creates a portrait, a question needs to be asked, who exactly is being captured? The idea of a single artwork somehow portraying a sitter’s character or persona seems fraught to me. Grace Tame is extraordinary, living a life few could comprehend, let alone survive, devoting her life these days to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. What story did she bring to my portrait this day? What part of her spirit did she choose to reveal? Is this even a portrait of Grace Tame? Maybe, but of course there’s so much more, a ripple on an ocean that holds beneath far more than it reveals. Oh, but what a ripple.’

Stuart Spence is a photographer and director based on Gadigal land/Sydney whose practice spans portraiture, reportage, film and fine art.

Stuart Spence
"Grace Tame - Between the Sea and the Sky" (2025)
Pigment photographic print on paper
Image: 90.3cm x 65.0cm
Sheet: 90.0cm x 64.0cm
Frame: 111.6cm x 83.7cm depth 3.8cm