Excerpt from the ABC news article: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-31/national-photographic-portrait-prize-artists-explain-their-works/8396770
Kuei - The Sea of Gazelles - South Sudan to Oz by Kellie Maree Leczinska
This image of a woman who settled in Australia after fleeing civil war in South Sudan and spending eight years in a UN refugee camp happened almost by accident, photographer Kellie Maree Leczinska said.
"It wasn't planned — I actually photographed her for another body of work ... I started to photograph her and asked her a little bit about herself, and this story came out," she said.
"It was just an incredible story of this beautiful, elegant woman who has endured the most terrible situations.
"When we think of UN refugee camps we think it's going to be a place of sanctuary, but it's not like that at all."
Leczinska said she found the image resembled classic portraiture
"In some respects she looks like she's coming out of darkness," she said.
"I thought it had a bit of a Girl With a Pearl Earring look about it."