Anne Zahalka
(Australia 1957– )
- Title
- Wednesday 8:40 pm, from the series Open house
- Year
- 1995
printed 1997 - Media category
- Photograph
- Materials used
- type C photograph
- Edition
- Artist proof from an edition of 20 + 2 APs
- Dimensions
-
53.6 x 79.0cm image (sight); 71.0 x 96.2 x 3.8cm frame
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
- Accession number
- 397.2011.1
- Copyright
- © Anne Zahalka. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
As part of a generation of Australian women artists who came to the fore in the early 1980s, Anne Zahalka’s practice has always been concerned with questioning dominant myths and cultural constructs. The broad sweep of Zahalka’s oeuvre has often been underpinned by a common strategy: the world in her images appears as theatre where place, gender and national identity are questioned.
The ten tableaus that form the 1995 series 'Open House' combine portraiture and genre scenes, placing the subjects in environments that they actually do inhabit. The titles, such as 'Saturday 5:18 pm', seem to hint at a moment of great significance, yet the situations and the relationships appear utterly ordinary. The highly detailed interiors resemble evenly illuminated sets (Zahalka also presented this series in the form of lightboxes). It is 'what the photograph reveals as evidence' that the artist finds compelling here.1 The people inhabiting these environments seem to increasingly resemble the objects that surround them.
1. A Zahalka et al, ‘Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka portraits 1987-2007’, Australian centre of photography, Sydney 2007, p 41
- Exhibition history (14)
-
Group Show, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 18 Sep 1997–11 Oct 1997.
Unhomely, ArtSonje Museum, 24 Jul 1998–13 Sep 1998.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Centre for Contemporary Photography, 13 Mar 2007–12 May 2007.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Warrnambool Art Gallery, 15 Sep 2007–28 Oct 2007.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, National Portrait Gallery [Parliamentary Zone], 23 Nov 2007–31 Mar 2008.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Ipswich Art Gallery, 17 May 2008–27 Jul 2008.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, 29 Aug 2008–12 Oct 2008.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, 06 Dec 2008–01 Feb 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Artspace Mackay, 06 Feb 2009–22 Mar 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, 24 Apr 2009–21 Jun 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Riddoch Art Gallery, 04 Jul 2009–02 Aug 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery, 26 Sep 2009–25 Oct 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Devonport Regional Gallery, 06 Nov 2009–31 Dec 2009.
Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka, portraits 1987-2007, Gippsland Art Gallery, 30 Jan 2010–28 Feb 2010.
