Anne Zahalka
(Australia 1957– )
- Title
- The girls #2, Cronulla beach
- Year
- 2007
- Media category
- Photograph
- Materials used
- type C photograph
- Edition
- Artist proof, from an edition 10 + 2 APS
- Dimensions
-
72.5 x 89.5cm image (sight); 98.4 x 112.5 x 3.7cm frame
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
- Accession number
- 398.2011
- 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.
Many of Zahalka’s more recent works are located outside the studio though the natural environment can be seen to be equally constructed. In ‘The girls #2, Cronulla beach’, the photographer has returned to the seaside, which was the setting for one of her most iconic series, ‘Bondi: playground of the Pacific’ 1989. The girls.. was made as a response to the Cronulla riots and after an introduction to Aheda Zanetti, the designer of the burqini. Zahalka ‘also knew of a documentary film being made following the recruiting of Lebanese men and women into the lifesaving club. It seemed like there was change adrift on the beachfront.’1 The permutations and post-modern anxiety about what constitutes Australian identity seen in the ‘Bondi…’ series, have spilled out into the real world. But the image of these young Muslim women lifeguards seems to celebrate the potential to transgress accepted value systems.
1. A Zahalka et al, ‘Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka portraits 1987-2007’, Australian centre of photography, Sydney 2007, p 43
- Bibliography (1)
-
Centre for Contemporary Photography (Australia) (Author), Hall of mirrors: Anne Zahalka portraits 1987-2007, 2007, (illus.).
- Exhibition history (12)
-
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.
