The Lismore Regional Gallery recently announced the finalists of the 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize.

Drawn from over 220 entries, the 68 finalists illustrate the diverse ways in which the human form can be captured. The award is open to all media, meaning that painting, drawing, video, photography and ceramic works will all be on display when the show opens to the public on November 7th.

The winner of the $10,000 award will be announced, online, on Friday 6th November by judge Abdul Abdullah. Abdullah is currently a finalist in the 2020 Archibald Prize.

Artists included in the finalist list come from all states of Australia, and the Northern Rivers, with its healthy creative spirit representing 40% of the artists on display.

( Denise Alison, A delicate moment in transformation. Photograph on paper)

Subjects include a range of known people such as Uncle Jack Charles; artist Guy Maestri, political scientist and biographer Professor Jenny Hocking; classical pianist Simon Tedeschi; film maker Kriv Stenders and musician Warren Ellis.

Locally, there are a large number of sitters known among the wider community featured including Bundjalung cultural worker Rhoda Roberts; drag performer Maude Boate (Michael Gates); NORPA Artistic Director Julian Louis; visual artist Karla Dickens and the late Aunty Dorrie Gordon.

There are, of course, a lot of self-portraits this year.

Lismore Regional Gallery Director, Brett Adlington, said: ‘It is unsurprising, that in this most challenging of years, many works offer intimate glimpses into the domestic space. Some of these are self-portraits, while others are of partners. The unifying factor is a sense of the artist looking inward into a safe space.’

The 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize is supported by Northern Rivers-based company Hurford Hardwood and continues until Sunday 31 January.

Audiences will have their chance to have their say in the Peoples Choice Award, with the winning artist receiving $1,000 from the Friends of Lismore Regional Gallery.