Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize - National Portrait Gallery

David Chancellor's Huntress with Buck has been awarded first prize in the Taylor Wessing portrait prize at the National Portrait Gallery. The portrait is of 14-year-old American Josie Slaughter, a skilled hunter from Birmingham, Alabama, on her first hunting trip to South Africa. Chancellor says: ‘The contrast between the peace and tranquillity of the location, plus Josie’s ethereal beauty and the dead buck, was what I wanted to explore. Here was a vulnerability and yet also a strength.’

Second prize was awarded to Panayiotis Lamprou for Portrait of My British Wife; Lamprou says of the picture: ‘To me, it expresses female power and independence as well as my devotion to my wife’.

Third prize went to Jeffrey Stockbridge for Tic Tac and Tootsie (twin sisters Carroll and Shelly McKean) The sisters, who live on the street in Kensington, North Philadelphia, and suffer from insomnia, are both addicted to Xanex and have resorted to prostitution to supply their habit.
Stockbridge says, ‘Enduring unthinkable pain on a daily basis, the sisters are both incredibly strong and weak at the same time. Caught in the grip of their addiction, they do whatever it takes to survive, except for getting clean'.

Fourth prize went to Abbie Trayler-Smith for Untitled 2 from her series Childhood Obesity. The prtrait is of Chelsea from Sheffield. Trayler-Smith says, ‘Whilst talking about how it feels to live with the prejudices that come with being overweight, I looked away to change the film in my camera. When I looked back the picture was suddenly there. I shot one frame.’

The exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery from 11th November - 20th February 2011. All quotes and details above are from the NPG website.