Head On Photo Festival 2022
Head On Photo Festival 2022 was a 17-day event across Sydney, Australia. Featuring over 100 exhibitions, 600 artists, and a variety of free talks and events, the festival was a huge success, with over 200,000 people attending.
Every year Head On Photo Festival is a fantastic opportunity to see the work of emerging and established photographers from Australia and worldwide. It’s also a chance to learn more about the art of photography and meet other photography enthusiasts.
One of the festival’s many highlights was the Festival launch and announcement of winners of the photo awards. Over 2000 guests enjoyed a stunning evening at the brand-new Bondi Pavilion with food, music and video messages from the winners.
Outstanding events included talks , – both in-person and online- presented by artists and experts. Panel discussions explored important themes such as the Narratives of Womanhood panel, which featured women photographers discussing their work, challenges and opportunities of being a woman in the arts industry and the importance of equal representation in the art world. Another highlight was the Portfolio Reviews, where emerging photographers presented their work for feedback from industry professionals.
The 2022 festival was supported by sponsors, including the Australian Federal Government, Create NSW, Waverley Council, international governments, local small businesses and the private sector.
Select featured EXHIBITIONS
Habibi
Habibi chronicles a love story set in one of the world’s most prolonged and complicated contemporary conflicts: the Israeli-Palestinian war. Palestinian prisoners’ wives have turned to ‘sperm smuggling’ to conceive children by their husbands, serving long-term sentences in Israeli jails. Around 7,000 Palestinians are detained, with nearly 1,000 facing 20 years or more sentences.
Moustachioed women and rhinoplastic girls
Mustoachioed women and rhinoplastic girls depicts two different generations of women in Iranian culture, with its innate sexual inequality and patriarchy.
Muay Thai Kids
Far from Thailand’s iconic tourist destinations, Isaan, the kingdom’s largest region, reaches north and east to the borders of Laos and Cambodia. Poverty forces many residents to seek work in Bangkok, but children are often left behind under the care of grandparents. To keep them out of trouble and with the prospect of earning money to support the family, kids are enrolled in Muay Thai (the country’s national sport).
Yemen; Conflict + Chaos
In March 2015, a Saudi Arabian led coalition supported by Western governments began a heavy and prolonged air bombing campaign against Yemen after Houthi rebels forces removed the internationally recognised government in late 2014. According to the UN, the war has killed at least two hundred and thirty thousand people and estimated that almost four million people had fled their homes due to conflict.
Superheroes in lockdown
Superheroes in lockdown was produced during Melbourne’s restrictive and prolonged 112-day COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The subjects are serious cosplayers who would usually spend their days visiting patients in hospitals or attending Comic-Con events, but just like the rest of the Melbournian population, they were confined to their homes.
Sixteen
These images are from a series called Sixteen, exploring what it means to be sixteen in the UK today. I explored the personal expressions, challenges and inspirations of being a young person growing up in Cornwall, in one of the most deprived areas of the UK, opening up conversations with young people about their hopes and fears and who or what sustains them, giving prominence to voices rarely heard.
Head On Photo Awards 2022
Head On Portrait Awards
The Head On Portrait Awards (est. 2004) is a prestigious competition that recognizes the talents of portrait photographers at all career stages. Prizes are awarded to artists who demonstrate a unique visual literacy of portraiture and innovative approaches to the traditional portrait form, expanding our idea of what a portrait can be.
Head On Landscape Awards
The Head On Landscape Awards (est. 2013) celebrate innovation in landscape photography. The selected finalists encompass landscape photographers who push the boundaries of landscape as a visual genre and explore how we navigate the spaces we inhabit and the spaces that exclude us.
Head On Student Awards
The Head On Student Awards recognise the talents and innovative practices of Australia’s K-12 students; the next generation of Australian artists. The Student Awards are specifically designed to nurture emerging photographic talent across all photographic styles and genres.
Head On Photo Awards semi-finalists 2022
The Head On Photo Awards (est. 2004) is a prestigious competition that recognizes the talents of photographers at all career stages. Prizes are awarded to artists who demonstrate a unique visual literacy of portraiture and innovative approaches to the traditional portrait form, expanding our idea of what a portrait can be.
Awards winners
This year’s Head On Photo Awards was intensely competitive, with our amazing panel of judges deliberating for hours on which talented photographers would take out the top spots. But luckily (for us) they did manage to pick the winners.
Marika Lortkipanidze tuned in all the way from Georgia to accept her award as the overall winner of the Portrait Awards with her powerful image The invisible doors. Antoine Buttafoghi took out the top spot in the Landscape Awards with their beautiful photo A few metres from eternity. And the unbelievably talented young photographer Leila Middleton won the Student Awards with their photo Me.
You can see the rest of the winners here.
A look back at 2022
Head On Photo Awards
The Head On Photo Awards represent a global selection of the best work from emerging and established photographers across four categories: Portrait | Landscape | Environmental | Student