Anne_Zahalka

Anne Zahalka – Australian Contemporary Photographer Australian contemporary photographer Anne Zahalka , focus her artwork on australian culture closely looking at themes such as gender roles, leisure activities and the conventions of art through postmodernism during the 1980's. Zahalkas aim was to question the stereotypes of natural and artificial tourism . Her earliest artworks show an interest in Australian leisure activities through small collages right through to large scaled images of documentary photography and theatrical artifice. Portraiture has also been an ongoing dimension of her practice. Her artworks depict landscapes and urban scenes from around the metropolitan, suburban and regional areas through a cultural postmodern frame. Her migrant background gave her a sense of difference. This is clearly evident in some of her themes of the deconstruction of mythologies promoted in iconic Australian images. Zahalkan's series ' Bondi: Playground of the Pacific' explores and subverts the mythology and stereotypes that have evolved around Australias most famous beach Bondi , well known for its national symbolism of relaxation by white settler inhabitants. Her personal concern shown in her Bondi series have to do with place, identity and culture. Zahalka quotes , “The project looked at Bondi's status as a significant cultural site and questioned the dominant representations that mythologise and embody it.” 1995 (www.gallerynsw.gov.au/work/96.1990/). Her aim as an artist was to force the viewer to question what Zahalka was focusing on by taking similar images from both the media and the history of Australian art, combining them to remake a contemporary piece of artwork , allowing the audience to engage with the artist emotions, through a post modernism cultural frame. Zahalkas inspiration is the celebrated Charles Meere painting Australian beach pattern ( 1938-40: Art Gallery of New South Wales). Zahalkas interest in migrants reflect her own life as both her parents migrated to Australia in 1949, and how her family history has influenced her. Some images in her series closely examine Bondi's history through various visuals of stereotypes – beach inspectors, council workers, Asian surfers and migrants. This series focus' on multiculturalism by capturing the Australian beach experiences of migration along with all white nuclear families. Her artwork The Sunbather #2 (1989) from her series Bondi: Playground of the Pacific ironically plays with the conventions of art and gender by appropriating Max Dupains artwork Sunbaker (1937) . This is done by depicting a slim young redhead lying on the beach against a blue sky using a low angle shot. In this photograph , Zahalka focus' on stereotypes by challenging the audiences perception of what an Australian looks like , and how they live their life. Zahalka appropriates Dupains artwork by replacing the sleek,bronzed black and white man with brilliant vibrant colours. Zahalkas artwork The Bathers , also from her series Bondi: Playground of the Pacific was photographed during a six-month residency at the Bondi Pavilion.The Bathers takes a postmodernism approach by appropriating and using Meeres historical artwork to create a new image through humor and parody. This is done by replacing Meeres idealized people with a range of body types and people from different cultures. This was done in order to reflect upon the multiculturalism of contemporary Australia by drawing attention to the constructedness of her imagery and capturing her photographs infront of a painted backdrop with the use of several props such as sand, furniture, and beach paraphernalia. Zahalka borrows the ideas from Meeres artwork of a girl with a beach ball, caucasian humans, a man standing with a towel, a boy laying down and the placement of people. However, Zahalka changes the meaning of the way the audience perceives the image through a more modern context by portraying a multicultural australian society and a girl holding a basketball instead of a beach ball. To conclude, Zahalka is well know for her contemporary artwork of a multicultural Australian society. She appropriates famous artworks such as Meers painting Australian Beach Pattern and Dupains artwork the Sunbaker through a postmodernism and cultural frame , changing the meaning of the original artwork by challenging the audiences perceptive of an Australian society.