See all the finalist images in a stunning outdoor gallery in Hyde Park from Thursday 15 September to Sunday 9 October.
Published 22 August 2022, updated 5 July 2023
Discover the finalists of the 2022 Australian Life photography competition
Explore some of the unique perspectives from people across the country – on show from 15 September to 9 October in Hyde Park.
Hunting with Fire – Grand prize winner
After lighting the bark on some trees at Djulkar waterfall, Stacey Lee hunts for file snakes in the fires' glow, while Evelyn Narorrga, carrying a flashlight, already has one wrapped around her right hand. The harmless snake is a delicacy. Fire is woven into everything the Nawarddeken people do.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Djulkar waterfall, West Arnhem Land, NT
- Credit: Matthew Abbott
Wombarra Bowling Club – People's choice award winner
Iconic Aussie scene at a Pinheads show on the South Coast near Wollongong. April 2021.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Wombarra Bowling Club, NSW
- Credit: Katelyn Slyer
Reclaiming Culture
A young boy reclaiming culture. This is a part of a culture burn on Awabakal Country to heal the land and its people.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Awabakal Country, NSW
- Credit: Alex Brunton
Our Bathroom Floor
The photograph explores the hidden world of neurodiversity. It evokes the raw feelings of helplessness, courage and resilience within the viewer, feelings many neurodiverse people and families face daily. Our Bathroom Floor was created with no expectations, no pressures. He is free to be present. To feel the water. Neurodiversity, kept safe within our walls.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Canberra, ACT
- Credit: Amy Iacullo
Sisters of Prayer
An Aboriginal woman and a South Sea Island woman embrace their Maori sister as she mourns her recently passed husband. Prayers and tears and solidarity and sisterhood in full flight.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Bagot, NT
- Credit: Anabel Litchfield
College Days Gone, 2021
A candid moment in a friend’s backyard in between the more staged pre-formal drinks. Symbolises a rather difficult couple of years for the graduating class of 2021. A casual up yours and a college education that seems to have disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Canberra, ACT
- Credit: Bob McKendry
Division
I collaborated with synchronised swimming team the Sydney Emeralds to create an entire photographic series from the less explored aerial viewpoint that focused on geometric patterns.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Sydney, NSW
- Credit: Brad Walls
Covid Vax & Ice Cream
After receiving her first Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination in her home in Yarrabah in far-north Queensland, Leanne Bulmer, 67, sits with her ‘reward’ – a free treat from the ice-cream van arranged to follow the medical teams and doctors door to door through the Indigenous community.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Yarrabah, Far North Queensland
- Credit: Brian Cassey
The Same, But Different
The iconic NGV Water Wall is a constant source of delight for children. Yet here I saw a reminder that times have changed. We are deeply changed, which I perceived in the glint of the girl’s eye, an impression that we need to be mindful, and continuously adaptable like water.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: National Gallery of Victoria
- Credit: Claire Edwards
Antoinette
Artist Antoinette O’Brien pictured in her home and studio after a record breaking 14.4m flood ravaged through the town of Lismore, leaving thousands of homes condemned or deemed uninhabitable. Antoinette, along with thousands of others residents, are now displaced and devastated at losing everything they own.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Lismore, NSW
- Credit: Elise Derwin
Nostalgia
A self-portrait post spinal surgery. I felt torn apart inside and wanted to wear clothes that day that represented my pain. I also needed to wear tight jeans to support my lumber spine. I spent months in recovery gently walking around my parents' farm. I placed myself in locations that brought on nostalgia. Giving me a sense of being a small child, a young inquisitive mind filled with the joy of discovery from the times gone past. Here I grew up young, free and able.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Gooloogong, NSW
- Credit: Elise Idiens
Pay Your Dollars, Pay Your Cents. But in Here, We Do Not Charge You Rent
Originally from the country, I had not seen the effects of homelessness until I set foot in the city. Walking through the city brought mixed emotions of being enclosed, yet great opportunity. This photograph was taken on a night walking through Newtown, I peered inside and took the photo.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Newtown, NSW
- Credit: Harry Cole
Shopping cart
With this photo, I want to raise awareness of environmental protection. The trolley must return to the collection point and trash must go to the rubbish bin. We cannot leave it to nature.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Mawson Lakes, SA
- Credit: Hyeong soo Jang
Two Hands & Eyes on Jovie
We want that cure for Rett Syndrome and want Jovie's seizures to stop. In the meantime, you need to be present in the life you've been given and not miss out on things that are kind of wonderful right now.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Western Sydney, NSW
- Credit: Joel Pratley
Ladies of the Midnight inma church service
This photo was taken during the making of a multi-disciplinary art project created by Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch and myself. The work explores Derik’s childhood growing up in the heart of central Australia. It was late and the community ran a evangelical church service for us.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Aputula / Finke, NT
- Credit: Matthew Thorne
Sydney CBD Slowly Returns
After taking a belting through Sydney's second Covid-19 lockdown, what was a deserted CBD, slowly started to regain confidence around the end of October. On a normally packed street corner at sunset, it was surreal to see the streets still so empty as people slowly returned to the CBD.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Sydney CBD, NSW
- Credit: Mike Keevers
Full Moon on Simms Hill
Cristian ponders life the universe and everything, under the stars on Simms Hill opal field in Lightning Ridge on Yuwaalaraay Country.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Lightning Ridge, Yuwaalaraay Country, NSW
- Credit: Nash Ferguson
Lost Worlds
Friends Ivy, Bean and Gracie explore the flooded streets of their hometown, Lismore. More than 2000 homes were rendered uninhabitable from the 2022 flood disaster that hit the NSW Northern Rivers and schools in Lismore were significantly damaged and earmarked for rebuilding.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Lismore, NSW
- Credit: Natalie Grono
Somewhere Under The Rainbow
After enduring Covid with 2 children, I gleefully headed to the coast. I woke to torrential rain at 5:30am, determined to swim. Minutes after I got into the baths a double rainbow appeared. Naturally, I made my buddy Dave dive through it. I took one shot, celebrating freedom and joy!
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Merewether Ocean Baths, NSW
- Credit: Penelope Green
One Marilyn Is Never Enough
The annual Marilyn charity swim event has raised more than $670,000 for the Cancer Council over the last 7 years. Participants swim/paddle 400m around the Brighton Jetty, Adelade every February dressed head to toe in their favourite 50s icon, Marilyn Monroe. Fun event for a great cause.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Brighton, Adelaide, SA
- Credit: Phil Duval
Yeah The Girls
Late afternoon on Tuff Street, two girls watch the steady procession of classic cars at Summernats 34. After being cancelled in 2021 due to Covid-19, the infamous Canberra car festival returned in January 2022, albeit with a reduced-capacity crowd.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Canberra, ACT
- Credit: Rachael Willis
Mal and His Racing Pigeons
I met Mal on a recent visit to my friends sheep farm in Henty. He was a pigeon racer. I asked Mal if I could meet his pigeons and also take his photo. He was delighted.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Henty, NSW
- Credit: River Bennett
Industrial Age
Inspired by the olden day work ethics.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Cockatoo Island, NSW
- Credit: Ron Rungsaroj
Is This What You Want?
Here, my dear friend Opal Onyx is shaving their legs in the bathroom. Performing this act of femininity, Opal rejects approval from heteronormativity, the male gaze, and the drive to be perceived as valid by "the man in your head".
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Footscray, VIC
- Credit: Rose Hartley
Lenard Connolly - In the Shadow of the King
Elvis tribute artist Lenard Connolly steps out for his set at the Parkes Railway Bowling Club. Wiradjuri, Yuin and Ngunnawal man Connolly found his love for Elvis hearing Presley on his parent’s radio. “I was singing Elvis before I went to school. Just a little Aboriginal kid shaking his leg.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Parkes, NSW
- Credit: Stuart Miller
Exodus
A quiet church in the remote town of Silverton, near Broken Hill, occupied by a flock of pigeons. Their sudden exodus in the quiet morning felt somewhat biblical with the total absence of noise or movement across the ghostly town.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Silverton, NSW
- Credit: Todd Kennedy
To Be or Not To Be
This couple asked me if I was a wedding photographer. I told them no but if they were getting married I'd take their photo. They weren't altogether clear if they were getting married, but they did want their photo taken.
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Bather's Beach, Fremantle, WA
- Credit: Tony Blackwell
Julie
Julie said, "I live and breathe in the inner western suburbs of Sydney. I was a student at the Fremantle School of Art and Design WA in the 90s. From office worker to cook, an artist, stylist and radio presenter at the local community radio station with my own show."
Listen to an audio description of this image.
Location: Sydney, NSW
- Credit: Zelko Nedic
