Portraits of Australian indigenous women win Taylor Wessing photo prize

Sydney-based David Prichard dedicated his win to indigenous women in Australia

Photographer David Prichard has won this year's coveted Taylor Wessing Prize for his portraits of Australian indigenous women.

His series, Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women, captures those who have spent most of their working lives on cattle stations in northern Queensland.

Prichard thanked the subjects for their trust, saying he was "only the vehicle for the women to tell their stories".

He was awarded the £15,000 first prize at London's Cromwell Place on Monday.

The Sydney-based photographer, 55, said he wanted to shine a light on a community that had been mostly unrecorded.

He was commissioned to create the series by Queensland's Normanton Council following a 2019 exhibition on First Nation rodeo riders in the region.

He said: "I have always been respectful of cultural and social sensitivities and subsequently built trust with the community, which led me to be invited to photograph the women."

Prichard beat off competition from fellow nominees Pierre-Elie de Pibrac and Katya Ilina, who were awarded second and third places respectively.

The Taylor Wessing Prize, now in its 14th year, is recognised as one of the most prestigious photography awards of its kind.

The winning portraits will be displayed at Cromwell Place in South Kensington, London, as part of the prize's annual exhibition from Wednesday until 2 January.

The photographs are usually exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, but that is currently closed for major redevelopment works until 2023.