Latest news with #NowSayItBack
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘They're going to see who I am': Top shots from the National Photographic Portrait Prize
This story is part of the August 9 edition of Good Weekend. See all 13 stories. Our pick of National Photographic Portrait Prize finalists salutes the stoic, the stubborn, the singular and the strong. Megan's Place, 2024 Megan is my friend and neighbour. Her life blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. Against the backdrop of her traditional weatherboard house in regional Victoria, Megan stands stoically with one of her rescue camels while her daughter bounces energetically on the trampoline. This moment captures the elements of both domesticity and adventure that encapsulate her life. Rebecca Polonski Thelma Plum, 2024 I made this picture with Gamilaraay musician Thelma Plum on Wilyakali Country last winter. The image was taken using a Rolleicord camera on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, where I live. We spent three days photographing throughout far west NSW, making a series of shots for Plum's album I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back. Em Jensen Sonny Jane Wise, 2025 My work is often playful, but also aims to challenge. Sonny Jane is a queer, non-binary, disabled and neurodivergent advocate and writer, who says their 'defiant' tattoo is 'a commitment to resist systems that pathologise our minds, bodies and queerness. When people look at me, they're going to see who I am.' Bri Hammond Untitled #01 (Code Black/Riot), 2024 Code Black/Riot is a collaboration with First Nations youths in far north Queensland, which interrogates a system that targets and imprisons them from the age of 10. The youths prefer to conceal their faces to avoid being identified. Hoda Afshar The Sky, 2025 Grace Tame is extraordinary, devoting her life to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. There's so much more to this portrait; a ripple on an ocean beneath that holds far more than it reveals. Stuart Spence Britney and Kayleb, 2024 Kayleb paints up his partner, Britney, at the Waagan Galga Corroboree on Wonnarua Country [in the Hunter Valley, NSW]. Later, they dance together to display the depth of love and loss they have experienced. Culture is a powerful healer. Marcus Rowsell Diamond in the Sky, 2024 As part of my series Deep Heat, I took this portrait 'with' Antony Sinni, a non-binary friend and artist on Larrakia Land, Garramilla [in the Darwin region, NT]. I highlight 'with' because making an image like this is both individual and deeply collaborative: experiencing what it is to be within a moment of vulnerability, connected by the sand, sky and the lens. In the series I use photography to explore my complex relationship with gender and masculinity, creating an opportunity for healing and evolution. Matt Sav Self portrait collecting dust, 2025 This photo captures the intimate chaos of a life lived in one space, my childhood bedroom [in western Sydney], for 34 years. Surrounded by a tapestry of trinkets and the quiet clutter of everyday life, my self portrait reflects the intersection of nostalgia and the present. The disorder becomes a tangible reminder of time passing, of a personal history that clings to the space, the room itself as much a part of my identity as the person within it. Tom Zust The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 exhibition, featuring the 48 selected finalists, will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from August 16 to October 12.
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘They're going to see who I am': Top shots from the National Photographic Portrait Prize
This story is part of the August 9 edition of Good Weekend. See all 13 stories. Our pick of National Photographic Portrait Prize finalists salutes the stoic, the stubborn, the singular and the strong. Megan's Place, 2024 Megan is my friend and neighbour. Her life blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. Against the backdrop of her traditional weatherboard house in regional Victoria, Megan stands stoically with one of her rescue camels while her daughter bounces energetically on the trampoline. This moment captures the elements of both domesticity and adventure that encapsulate her life. Rebecca Polonski Thelma Plum, 2024 I made this picture with Gamilaraay musician Thelma Plum on Wilyakali Country last winter. The image was taken using a Rolleicord camera on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, where I live. We spent three days photographing throughout far west NSW, making a series of shots for Plum's album I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back. Em Jensen Sonny Jane Wise, 2025 My work is often playful, but also aims to challenge. Sonny Jane is a queer, non-binary, disabled and neurodivergent advocate and writer, who says their 'defiant' tattoo is 'a commitment to resist systems that pathologise our minds, bodies and queerness. When people look at me, they're going to see who I am.' Bri Hammond Untitled #01 (Code Black/Riot), 2024 Code Black/Riot is a collaboration with First Nations youths in far north Queensland, which interrogates a system that targets and imprisons them from the age of 10. The youths prefer to conceal their faces to avoid being identified. Hoda Afshar The Sky, 2025 Grace Tame is extraordinary, devoting her life to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. There's so much more to this portrait; a ripple on an ocean beneath that holds far more than it reveals. Stuart Spence Britney and Kayleb, 2024 Kayleb paints up his partner, Britney, at the Waagan Galga Corroboree on Wonnarua Country [in the Hunter Valley, NSW]. Later, they dance together to display the depth of love and loss they have experienced. Culture is a powerful healer. Marcus Rowsell Diamond in the Sky, 2024 As part of my series Deep Heat, I took this portrait 'with' Antony Sinni, a non-binary friend and artist on Larrakia Land, Garramilla [in the Darwin region, NT]. I highlight 'with' because making an image like this is both individual and deeply collaborative: experiencing what it is to be within a moment of vulnerability, connected by the sand, sky and the lens. In the series I use photography to explore my complex relationship with gender and masculinity, creating an opportunity for healing and evolution. Matt Sav Self portrait collecting dust, 2025 This photo captures the intimate chaos of a life lived in one space, my childhood bedroom [in western Sydney], for 34 years. Surrounded by a tapestry of trinkets and the quiet clutter of everyday life, my self portrait reflects the intersection of nostalgia and the present. The disorder becomes a tangible reminder of time passing, of a personal history that clings to the space, the room itself as much a part of my identity as the person within it. Tom Zust The National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025 exhibition, featuring the 48 selected finalists, will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from August 16 to October 12.
West Australian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Thelma Plum goes country (but stops off in Perth on the way)
Perth may not be one of the world's biggest metropolises, but it would be a stretch to call it a country town. Which is why its inclusion on Queensland singer Thelma Plum's latest regional tour, aptly called I'm Sorry, Where Is That? is a little puzzling. Plum is performing at the very inner-city venue The Rechabite on May 20. 'When I did the announcement online there were some people who found it very funny,' Plum admits. 'Obviously I know Perth is not a regional town.' Not that we're complaining. And when you're coming all this way, it can't hurt to add in a few extra shows where you can. So city audiences who missed Plum when she toured last year on the back of her new(ish) album I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back will have a chance to catch her before she heads to Margaret River, Kununurra and then across the country. Plum, who grew up between Brisbane and the tiny town of Delungra in NSW, says she is passionate about reaching regional audiences. 'Country kids need music too,' she says. 'Live music is not as accessible to country folk so it's nice to make an effort to get out that way.' More than making an effort just to play, Plum is also holding a competition for acts in the towns she is visiting to support her. It's her way of giving back and helping a new generation of talent, as her own career was given a boost when she won a competition as a teenager. 'It's so important, because this is how I started. I won a comp to play at the National Indigenous Music Awards. I was 17 so it was obviously only two years ago,' she jokes — Plum is 30. 'It's important if I'm going to these regional places that I am championing the local talent there. So I am really excited. The only thing I will say is I have been a little bit overwhelmed by how incredible everyone is. 'People are so talented. I don't know when that happened! People have been sending me videos of them singing or tagging me in their songs, and I am a little bit overwhelmed because everyone is so good, so I'm not sure how to navigate that.' Plum has come a long way since winning that competition as a teen, having firmly established herself as one of the county's most gifted songwriters. After her hit album Better In Blak in 2019, she took a break of several years before releasing, (excuse the cliche) her difficult sophomore album. I'm Sorry Now Say It Back was released last year, with music bible Rolling Stone describing the album as: 'unspooling lyrics full of raw honesty, humanity laid bare, delivered in her unmistakable, vibrato-hewn voice and soundtracked with studio polish, strings, and delicious melodies.' The magazine also recently awarded her its single of the year prize for the song Freckles. 'I was so stoked. I try not to get too caught up with that sort of stuff but I was pretty excited, I won't lie,' she says. Plum says the wave of grungy women singer-songwriters of the 1990s were a major influence on I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back, and she namechecks Meredith Brooks, Jill Sobule and Suzanne Vega as inspirations behind the album. While I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back has more of a pop vibe than some of her earlier work, Plum says she would love to do a country album one day, and says anyone going along to her WA shows this week can expect to hear a country twinge to the set. 'I think we might have a few more acoustic, slow moments,' she says. 'I will still have my band with me. We might do a bit of a country-esque vibe to the set. 'It will be the same as the tour in some sense as we will do a lot of the same songs, but it will be different in case some of the people who came to the city shows want to come to these shows as well. They can know that this will be different.' Thelma Plum plays The Rechabite on May 20, The River in Margaret River on May 21 ,and the Kimberley Moon Experience in Kununurra on May 24.
Perth Now
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Thelma Plum heads to the country
Perth may not be one of the world's biggest metropolises, but it would be a stretch to call it a country town. Which is why its inclusion on Queensland singer Thelma Plum's latest regional tour, aptly called I'm Sorry, Where Is That? is a little puzzling. Plum is performing at the very inner-city venue The Rechabite on May 20. 'When I did the announcement online there were some people who found it very funny,' Plum admits. 'Obviously I know Perth is not a regional town.' Not that we're complaining. And when you're coming all this way, it can't hurt to add in a few extra shows where you can. So city audiences who missed Plum when she toured last year on the back of her new(ish) album I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back will have a chance to catch her before she heads to Margaret River, Kununurra and then across the country. Plum, who grew up between Brisbane and the tiny town of Delungra in NSW, says she is passionate about reaching regional audiences. 'Country kids need music too,' she says. 'Live music is not as accessible to country folk so it's nice to make an effort to get out that way.' More than making an effort just to play, Plum is also holding a competition for acts in the towns she is visiting to support her. It's her way of giving back and helping a new generation of talent, as her own career was given a boost when she won a competition as a teenager. 'It's so important, because this is how I started. I won a comp to play at the National Indigenous Music Awards. I was 17 so it was obviously only two years ago,' she jokes — Plum is 30. 'It's important if I'm going to these regional places that I am championing the local talent there. So I am really excited. The only thing I will say is I have been a little bit overwhelmed by how incredible everyone is. 'People are so talented. I don't know when that happened! People have been sending me videos of them singing or tagging me in their songs, and I am a little bit overwhelmed because everyone is so good, so I'm not sure how to navigate that.' Plum has come a long way since winning that competition as a teen, having firmly established herself as one of the county's most gifted songwriters. After her hit album Better In Blak in 2019, she took a break of several years before releasing, (excuse the cliche) her difficult sophomore album. I'm Sorry Now Say It Back was released last year, with music bible Rolling Stone describing the album as: 'unspooling lyrics full of raw honesty, humanity laid bare, delivered in her unmistakable, vibrato-hewn voice and soundtracked with studio polish, strings, and delicious melodies.' The magazine also recently awarded her its single of the year prize for the song Freckles. 'I was so stoked. I try not to get too caught up with that sort of stuff but I was pretty excited, I won't lie,' she says. Plum says the wave of grungy women singer-songwriters of the 1990s were a major influence on I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back, and she namechecks Meredith Brooks, Jill Sobule and Suzanne Vega as inspirations behind the album. While I'm Sorry, Now Say It Back has more of a pop vibe than some of her earlier work, Plum says she would love to do a country album one day, and says anyone going along to her WA shows this week can expect to hear a country twinge to the set. 'I think we might have a few more acoustic, slow moments,' she says. 'I will still have my band with me. We might do a bit of a country-esque vibe to the set. 'It will be the same as the tour in some sense as we will do a lot of the same songs, but it will be different in case some of the people who came to the city shows want to come to these shows as well. They can know that this will be different.' Thelma Plum plays The Rechabite on May 20, The River in Margaret River on May 21 ,and the Kimberley Moon Experience in Kununurra on May 24.
