BIO
Alana Holmberg is a visual artist based in Garramilla / Darwin. Her practice combines photography, motion, sound and text and her projects are both conceptual and documentary. Experimenting with performance, installation, and online platforms,
Alana’s work has been exhibited in Australia and abroad. Highlights include a commission from Parliament Victoria to make new large-scale photographic works for installation on the steps of Parliament during Photo 2022 International Festival of Photography, solo exhibitions at Counihan Gallery, Brunswick and Head On Festival of Photography, Sydney, and participation in group shows including ACTS I-VIII at Benalla Art Gallery and finalists show at Organ Vida International Festival of Photography, Museum of Modern Art Zagreb.
Alana’s work is held in private and public collections, including the Merri Bek Art Collection and State Library of Victoria collection of photobooks. She has received several grants, commissions and national awards for her work including the National Photographic Portrait Award (2019) at the National Portrait Gallery, the Australian Photobook of the Year (2022) for her first book Porch Diaries and The Pool Grant in 2017. She has also been a finalist in the William and Winifred Bowness Prize at Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) and a nominee in the World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program in 2017.
Alana is alumni of RMIT University, Melbourne (2014) and Danish School of Media and Journalism, Aarhus, Denmark (2015), and for several years lectured in visual storytelling at Photography Studies College (2017-2019). In her freelance work, Alana has been commissioned by The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, Liberation.fr and The Guardian. Alana was a member of Oculi Collective from 2016-2024 and is a member of Women Photograph.
AWARDS, TALKS & NOMINATIONS
Winner, Australian Photobook of the Year, 2022
Belonging, Panel Talk at ACMI, part of Photo 2022 International Festival of Photography, 2022
Nominee, World Press Joop Swart Masterclass, 2020
Winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, 2019
Nominee, World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent, 2019
Finalist, William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, 2017
Highly Commended, Maggie Diaz Photography Prize, 2017
Finalist & Exhibitor, Organ Vida International Photography Festival, 2017
Finalist, National Photography Portrait Prize, 2017
Recipient, The Pool Grant, 2016
Speaker, TedxManly, 2014
EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES & COMMISSIONS
Porch Diaries, book exhibited in Manifesto, group show at Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, 2023
Porch Diaries, book exhibited at Specular Horizons, Kuwait, 2023
Idle Hours, Photo 2022 x Parliament Victoria Commission, Photo 2022 International Festival of Photography
We Look Poor, part of ACTS I-VII by Oculi, group show at Benalla Art Gallery, part of regional programming for Photo 2022 International Festival of Photography 2022
Porch Diaries, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, 2021
Porch Diaries part of This Changes Everything (group show), Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Katoomba, 2021
Porch Diaries & Letterboxes (live performance), Tempo Rubato Performance Space, Brunswick, 2021
This Time It’s Personal, group show at Sun Studios, Sydney, 2019
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, finalist touring exhibition, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2019
A Change In The Weather, single-channel video commission part of Common Good, group show at Museum of Art and Sciences (MAAS), Sydney, 2018
Resist Laughter, solo show at The Lost Ones Gallery, Ballarat, 2018
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017, finalist touring exhibition, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2017
Bowness Contemporary Prize for Photography, finalist group show, Monash Gallery of Art, 2017.
Resist Laughter, Screenings Program at Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Organ Vida Photography Festival, 2017
Resist Laughter, solo show at Special Group Studios, Feature Exhibition at HeadOn Photography Festival, Sydney, 2017
And Holland Had Tulipes, live performance with James Milsom, Unless You Will Symposium, 2017.
Crossover Web Documentary Festival, Denmark, 2016
Family.Life, Syracuse University and Alexia Foundation Project, USA, 2015
GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
Flourish Arts Recovery Grant, Moreland Arts, 2021
Sequana Partners & LUMAS Gallery Grant, 2020
MatchLAB, Creative Partnerships Australia, 2020/2021
Residency for RMIT Photography Alumni, 2018
The Pool Grant, The Pool Collective, 2017
CONTACT
Currently in: Darwin, Australia
Email: hi@alanaholmberg.com