When Humans of Lismore creator Denise Alison snapped a secret moment of Michael Gates transforming into local icon and drag queen star Maude Boate, it was to become the photograph that made her one of the finalists in the 2020 Hurford Portrait Prize.

It’s the first time she’s entered the portrait prize, but Denise been a photographer for a long time.

Denise Alison at home.

Micheal Gates aka Maude Boate

Denise said Micheal Gates aka Maude Boate is a long time friend of hers and her photo was taken earlier this year, during the Covid closedown period.

“Maude and I spent a lot of time together through the Covid isolation period, when everyone was bored,” Denise said. “I would go and take photos of Maude dressing up and taking out the bin for the Bin Outing Facebook site.

“We had so much fun. Maude would dress up in different outfits and drag that bin out, to music and I had sore ribs from laughing.

“One day, I went over to do that and she was just getting dressed and I just captured that rawness - she had the dressing gown on and the boots and was sitting in a chair in front of an old fashioned mirror with lights.

Unguarded moment

“It was an unguarded moment. Normally with Maude, everything is colourful with big wigs, bling, outfits, heels and jewels - and this was a quiet moment.

“I loved that image. It captured the spirit of the person. I’ve taken much better technical images, but I loved it captured her spirit - and someone else did too, because it got through to the finals.”

Denise said what you can’t see in the photo is that Maude is sitting in her sewing room, surrounded by costumes and she had old school musicals playing on the stereo.

“Maude has great history of costume design and was involved in creating costumes for the Pricilla Queen of the Desert movie,” Denise said.

Overjoyed

Denise said she found out she was a finalist in the local portrait art prize when she received an email saying congratulations.

“I’d forgotten I had entered,” Denise said. “I was shocked and overjoyed I got into the finals. To win would be incredible but I don’t expect to see it happen.

“I am just really excited to have my work on the walls of the Regional Gallery.”

Sunday Profile introduces more about Denise

Read the Sunday Profile on the Lismore App or website https://lismoreapp.com.au/news-sport/sunday-profile/sunday-profile-denise-alison-creator-of-humans-of-lismore?id=5f926185190d080a668de708 to find out more about Denise and why she started up the popular Humans of Lismore Facebook page, as well as meet some of the interesting local characters she photographs and writes about.

2020 Hurford Hardwood Prize winner announcement

The winner of the 2020 Hurford Hardwood Prize will be announced by this year's judge artist Abdul Abdullah online at 5.30pm Friday, November 6, via Facebook live stream at https://www.facebook.com/events/1108645872901620/

The exhibition will be open to the public for viewing at Lismore Regional Gallery from 10am Saturday, November 7, as will the online catalogue.

Finalists for the 2020 Hurford Hardwood Prize are:

Denise Alison, Louise Allerton, Ann Arora, Marjan Bakhtiarikish, Konrad Bock, Renè Bolten, Karen Jane Borger, Jacob Boylan, Amanda Bromfield, Filippa Buttitta, Foong-Yue Cheah, Molly Darvall, Michelle Dawson, Janine Dello, Peter Derrett OAM, Dawn Duncan-Smith, Facing Australia (Raimond De Weerdt and Karen Donnelly), Kathryn Fenton, Rikki Fisher, Miriam Fraser, Todd Fuller, Shirley Gibson, Anna Glynn, Amala Groom, Michèle Heibel, Hilary Herrmann, Martyn Hodge, Nicole Kelly, Sadami Konchi, Elena Larkin, Susan Ma, Ali Marshall, Samuel Massey, Shannon McCulloch, Genevieve Memory, Zilpha Menghetti, Libby Moore, Anh Nguyen, Antoinette O’Brien, Arion Ocean, Jessica O’Connor, Miriam O’Grady, Travis Paterson, Ana Pollak, Jamie Preisz, Marian Quigley, Caitlin Reilly, Gwen Robson, Matthew Sansom, Lynn Savery, Loribelle Spirovski, Fleur Stevenson, Lisa Stonham, Robyn Sweaney, Joe Swepson, Fiona Taylor, Lenny Thurgate, Seabastion Toast, Datsun Tran, Edward Trost, Melanie Valentine, Asher Veling, Jacklyn Wagner, Rudiger Wasser, Harry Westera, Edwin Wilson, Caroline Zilinsky and Michelle Zuccolo.

The 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize is kindly supported by Hurford Hardwood.