Bill Henson is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists. Born in Melbourne in 1955, Henson had his first solo exhibition, at the age of 19, at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1975. He has since exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas, including New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Montreal, Barcelona, Vienna and Amsterdam. In 1995, Henson represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, with his celebrated series of cut-screen photographs. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of NSW.

In 2003, Henson's work appeared in Strangers: The First ICP Triennial of Photography and Video at the International Center of Photography in New York. In the same year he had a solo exhibition at the Centro de Fotografia, University of Salamanca, Spain. In 2005, a comprehensive survey of his work was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, attracting record visitor numbers for a contemporary art exhibition in Australia. In 2006, Henson exhibited a major body of work in Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.