The Ballarat International Foto Biennale is a festival founded back in 2005, that celebrates Australian Photographers, and exhibits their work across multiple locations including the Art Gallery of Ballarat, The Mining Exchange, the Minerva Room, The Observatory, Post Office Gallery and the Town Hall.
Striving to engage the local community with creative and courageous ideas, its 12th year running has attracted an audience of more than 150,000 visitors to Ballarat to view the works of many talented photographers.
Plucked from the crowd as the winner this year was student, Elli Bardas.
Fulfilling the brief, Bardas’ portrait portrayed ‘a significant, living Australian in the field of arts, letters, science, sports or politics’.
Being a black and white image of her aunt Vicki Vodor, beating more than 150 other entries and 27 finalists, and taking home the inaugural Martin Kantor Portrait Prize of $15,000, judges describing the piece as “reminiscent of the 1960s” in a “mature and beautiful” manner.
