Head On festival opens for 2024; winners announced

By Tim Levy | 11 November 2024

The Head On Photo Festival 2024 officially opened on Friday, kicking off a 21-day program featuring nearly 100 free exhibitions.

The festival has been running since 2004 and has exhibited more than 5,000 photographic artists across Sydney, Australia, and more recently overseas - bravo!

This year, major exhibitions will be held at Bondi Pavilion Gallery, and outdoors in Paddington and Bondi Beach, though there is a myriad of other smaller exhibitions taking place. You can see the full program listing here.

Other ‘featured’ program events are as below:

11/11/2024 Rwanda opening and panel
12/11/2024 Stand out from the crowd
13/11/2024 Open house – week 1
14/11/2024 AddOn exhibition opening
20/11/2024 Open house – week 2
24/11/2024 Sydney Camera Markets
27/11/2024 Artists in conversation – Simon Harsent
27/11/2024 Open house – week 3

The event also announced the prize winners in the Head On Awards Exposure, Portrait, and Landscape categories, with the winners sharing in a prize pool valued at over $80,000.

You can see the three category winners below, along with the local and international runners-up in each of the categories as well.

Exposure Winner: Antonio Denti with Kids from generation Alpha growing in a world exponentially different from anything known by their predecessors, playing with technology while night falls in a primordial stretch of coast by Mount Etna’s volcano, in the Mediterranean.

Portrait Winner: Drew Gardner for his black and white image of a descendant of a black slave from the US Civil war. It took three years to research and recreate, including the painstaking reconstruction of the costume. The sitter had to remain still for the 40 second exposure from the TinType camera from the 19th century.

Landscape Winner: Kinga Wrona for his image of a house in La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands after the eruption of volcano Cumbre Vieja.

Exposure Runner up Australia: Sarah Cusack’s digital photograms of personal protective equipment (PPE) which provides protection from infectious particles but not from these dangers and varying psycho-emotional states suffered over time.

Exposure Runner Up International: Hadas Motro for her image of the invasion of colourful and exotic monk parakeets threatening the delicate balance of nature.

Portrait Runner Up Australia: Nathan Dyer’s portrait of Anne Clarke, a young Miriwoong woman from far north Western Australia in spurs and a LeBron James basketball singlet, which Dyer says is a complex mix of the past and present. Anne’s dream to work in the pastoral industry reflects a long tradition of Aboriginal stockwomen; her LeBron James singlet a nod to the growing influence of American culture.

Portrait Runner Up International: Melinda Blauvelt’s portrait of a couple in the historical Canadian fishing village of Acadian.

Landscape Runner Up Australia: Frances Suter, image of a simile face drawn on snow clumped on a true in winter in Australia.

Landscape Runner Up International: Tony McAteer looking at the unprecedented urbanisation of the Middle East.

Head On Photo Festival Director and founder Moshe Rosenzveig OAM said the festival is all about bringing art to the people who might not normally enjoy it.

“Cost of living pressures should not be a barrier to accessing art. These images are from some of the most well-known and newly discovered photographers in the world. We don’t want them hidden in empty galleries, we want it celebrated in public spaces where everyone can enjoy,” Mr Rosenzveig said.

“Sometimes an exhibition shines light on a group of people most of us hardly ever think about.

“These photographs tap into the rich tapestry of human experience, whether that’s from conflict zones, life in rural towns, quirky stories as well as major issues faced by countries around the world,” he said.

You can find out more about all the events at Head on via the festival website.