Tasmania rivals many global landscapes for nature photography—but how would it feel to be face to face with a leopard, a bison, or hippopotamus?
Visitors to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery will get a glimpse of just that through the opening of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Art Gallery at Royal Park this week.
This internationally significant exhibition will be on tour to Tasmania, exclusively at QVMAG, from 6 July to 8 September with free entry for all ages.
With all photography on display selected by an international judging panel of respected wildlife experts and nature photographers, the 2023 touring exhibition celebrates the fifty-ninth-year anniversary of this beloved competition.
City of Launceston Mayor Matthew Garwood said the exhibition offered an outstanding display of nature photography at its finest.
“This is an incredible exhibition for all ages to explore. To welcome this exhibition tour from London to Tasmania and have this exclusively on display in the State at QVMAG is a great outcome for northern Tasmanians,” Mayor Garwood said.
“Better yet, this experience is completely free for people to enjoy. I’d highly recommend locals and those travelling throughout Launceston make the most of this while on display—it's one not to be missed”
Creative Arts and Cultural Services General Manager Shane Fitzgerald said it was a fantastic outcome for Tasmania to continue this multi-year exhibition partnership in Launceston with the Natural History Museum in London.
“This exhibition attracts thousands of photography enthusiasts each year across the globe, and it’s brilliant to have this exclusive tour partnership for Tasmania at QVMAG,” Fitzgerald said.
“Last year, this exhibition tour to the Museum at Inveresk encouraged a great level of local and tourism engagement of all ages. This year, we look forward to welcoming another fantastic showcase of leading wildlife photography from across the globe to the Art Gallery at Royal Park.”
Owned and developed by the Natural History Museum in London, the origins of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition go back to 1965, when BBC Wildlife Magazine was called Animals and the three available categories attracted around 600 entries.
In 2023, more than 50,000 images were entered into Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 95 countries, with only 100 images selected.
Image: The ancient mariner by © Laurent Ballesta, France (2023). Winner, Portfolio Award. Location: Pangatalan Island, Palawan, the Philippines.
French underwater photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta was awarded Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 for ‘The golden horseshoe’, an otherworldly image of a tri-spine horseshoe crab accompanied by a trio of golden trevallies.
The tri-spine horseshoe crab has survived for more than 100 million years but now faces habitat destruction and overfishing for food and for its blue blood, used in the development of vaccines. But, in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines, there is hope for its survival.
Chair of the jury and editor, Kathy Moran says, ‘To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing. We are looking at an ancient species, highly endangered, and also critical to human health. This photo is luminescent.’
Laurent is only the second photographer in the competition’s fifty-nine-year history to be awarded the Grand Title award twice. He was first awarded Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2021 for his intriguing image of camouflage groupers exiting a milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 is on display with fee entry from 6 July to 8 September, exclusively in Tasmania at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.