Peter BREW-BEVAN

Considered one of Australia’s finest portrait photographer, Peter Brew-Bevan trained as an artist specialising in painting and drawing, before focusing his much-lauded talent through the camera lens to capture some of the world’s most famous people.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1969, Brew-Bevan has worked with various photographic forms over the years, but it is his portraiture and fashion portraiture that captures the very essence of his subjects through the creative use of lighting and location and his connection with his subjects.

Brew-Bevan's ability to engage and communicate with his subjects has seen him carve out an enduring career to become arguably Australia’s premier portrait photographer capturing actors, musicians, artists, politicians, sporting icons and respected business leaders. His stunning images grace magazine and album covers alike and are collected and exhibited by galleries and private collectors, including Australia’s prestigious National Portrait Gallery, which has twenty-five of the artist’s portraits and hosted his first solo exhibition in 2005 and his work has been included in many exhibitions since. He has also had the honour of being given several commonwealth commissions with both the National Portrait Gallery and the Australian War Memorial.

Brew-Bevan's first photographic book Shoot: Studio Sessions (2007) won six high profile industry awards for overall innovative concept and design and to date is the most expensively published coffee table book that is truly a work of art.

In recent years, Brew-Bevan has ventured into the world of music, not just as a photographer but collaborating with various music artists as a creative director, conceptualising and directing the branding and overall look for albums, as well as delving into the directorial world of music videos.

In 2019, the artist founded the 2020 MEN-tality project in partnership with Beyond Blue with the aim to destigmatise men’s mental health through a series of 55 portraits, created over 2 years featuring well-known Australian men demonstrating that depression and anxiety doesn’t discriminate. Accompanying these portraits were quotes from the subjects telling their personal experiences with mental health struggles or words of encouragement to demonstrate the importance of sharing and demystifying mental health. The hashtag for the project was #ToHearAndBeHeard

‘Since the mid-1990s, photographer Peter Brew-Bevan has amassed an impressive portfolio of portraits of many prominent figures in contemporary Australian life. The National Portrait Gallery began acquiring his work in 2001 and presented his solo exhibition, Peter Brew-Bevan: Portraits, in 2005. The Gallery’s photographic collection spans from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day and encompasses the multifaceted nature of Australian photographic portraiture – from studio portraits through photojournalism to publicity, advertising and fashion photography, as well as fine art. Brew-Bevan’s work exemplifies several of these facets simultaneously. With a degree in drawing and painting from the South Australian School of Art and Design, Brew-Bevan approaches his portraits with a painter’s sensibility: sketching compositions; integrating costume, lighting, setting and palette; and capturing his concepts in illustrated notebooks and journals. Brew-Bevan’s portraits are often layered with film and art historical references, resulting in thought-provoking portraits characterised by a distinct, cinematic quality.’ - National Portrait Gallery Australia