Portrait photography has been one of the most popular genres of the medium, and today, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is honoring photographers and artists who are reimaging a new world of portraiture. Titled Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, the contest takes place every three years. Without further ado, here is a look at the winners who have shot stunning portraits.
All the images are courtesy of the artists and and Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Used with permission.
The lead winner of the contest is Brooklyn-based artist Kameron Neal, for his two-channel video installation Down the Barrel (of a Lens) (2023). The video explores the relationships among surveillance, power, and identity. The winning work was created while Neal was a public artist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Records.
To create the series, the artist installed two large screens that showcase declassified New York Police Department surveillance footage recorded between 1960 and 1980. The work asks the questions of who is seen, who controls the gaze, and how systems of observation shape lived reality.
As the first prize winner, Neal will receive $25,000, as well as the chance to create a portrait of a living person for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery permanent collection.
The 2025 competition-based triennial invites visitors to explore how artists are engaging with portraiture, sometimes embracing its tradition and other times redrawing the boundaries of the genre, with the intent of examining what it means to be human.
Taína Caragol, the Portrait Gallery’s senior curator of painting and sculpture.
In addition, the second and third prizes went to Jared Soares of Washington, D.C., and David Antonio Cruz of New York City. Soares is a portrait photographer whose series, Misidentified by Artificial Intelligence: Alonzo and Carronne (2023), addresses the real-world consequences of facial recognition technology following the wrongful arrest of a Maryland resident due to AI misidentification. As for Cruz, he won for his print made with oil and flash paint. Soares will receive $10,000.
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery has also showcased the winning works in Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today, which opened on January 24 and runs through August 30. This year’s exhibition showcases 34 portraits, from photographs, video installations, sculptures, and paintings. Visitors can vote for a People’s Choice Award both online and in person through April 5.
Given how portrait photography is important, this initiative, which began in 2006, has continued to give a platform to talent that otherwise would go unnoticed. In a time when AI is taking over, more and more galleries and museums are helping and supporting artists with grants and contests, and pushing their work forward.