CLOSING THIS WEEK: Nike Savvas and Anne Zahalka are featured in the 'first decade' the exhibition 'A Fictional Retrospective' at Gertrude Contemporary.
Curated by Sue Cramer and Emma Nixon, shaping a fresh and vital interpretation of the late 80s and early 90s in Australian art, the exhibition will evoke the liveliness of the Gertrude community during these foundational years. This is the first iteration of Past is Prologue, a year-long program marking and reflecting on forty years of Gertrude.
A Fictional Retrospective: Gertrude's First Decade
📅 8 February - 23 March
📍 Gertrude Contemporary
ANNE ZAHALKA - Finalist in Meroogal Women's Art Prize
Anne Zahalka's Forget me not (2024) is a finalist in the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize, currently on display at Meroogal in Nowra, NSW.
This album, its frontispiece emblazoned with the words ‘Forget me not’, is usually stored in a sideboard at Meroogal. The pages in the album were once occupied by family photographs. These now vacant pages represent the missing people who lived in the house. Their absence now haunts our encounter, and we can only imagine the portraits this Victorian-era album once held. Displaying this ‘hidden’ collection item as an artwork draws attention to the power of objects to invoke memory and imagination.
The Meroogal Women’s Art Prize is a regional, non-acquisitive competition and exhibition. Women artists from across NSW were invited to submit works, in any medium, that respond to the historic house of Meroogal, its former occupants, and its meaning within broader historical and contemporary contexts.
Visit Forget me not at Meroogal, until the exhibition closes on 24 May 2025.
More information >
NIKE SAVVAS & ANNE ZAHALKA featured in 'A Fictional Retrospective' at Gertrude Contemporary
Nike Savvas and Anne Zahalka are included in the 'first decade' the exhibition 'A Fictional Retrospective' opening tonight at Gertrude Contemporary.
Curated by Sue Cramer and Emma Nixon, shaping a fresh and vital interpretation of the late 80s and early 90s in Australian art, the exhibition will evoke the liveliness of the Gertrude community during these foundational years. This is the first iteration of Past is Prologue, a year-long program marking and reflecting on forty years of Gertrude.
The exhibition runs until 23 March.
Nike Savvas, Nice Bubbles (detail), 1994, installation view, A Fictional Retrospective: Gertrude’s First Decade 1985–1995, Gertrude Contemporary, Naarm Melbourne, 2025, iridescent blown glass, image courtesy of the artist and Arc One Gallery, Naarm Melbourne © the artist, photograph: Christian Capurro
ANNE ZAHALKA - Clifton Contemporary Art Fair 2025
Anne Zahalka
Return of the Thylacine, 2024
30cm x 40cm
Clifton Contemporary Art Fair 2025
ANNE ZAHALKA features in Escarpment - Living on the Edge, an exhibition curated by Sheona White to raise much needed funds for the expansion project of the Clifton Art School.
Clifton School of Arts is a unique Victorian landmark with spectacular ocean views. Clifton School of Arts is a historic building, superbly positioned just south of the iconic Sea Cliff Bridge in Clifton New South Wales. This much-loved institution has served the local community as a cultural and events facility for over 110 years.
General public free
Open daily 10am - 4pm
More information >
New publication featuring MARTI, ZAHALKA, LAURENCE, YOUNG
Celebrating the launch of Mordant Collection Highlights, a publication devoted to the collection of Simon and Catriona Mordant.
"We never set out to build a collection. What has driven us is a passion to be surrounded by creative people, whether in the visual or performing arts. We have only purchased a work when it evoked a reaction in us ... We have never bought a work for a particular wall or because someone told us the artist was important. We have loved this journey together."—Simon and Catriona Mordant
Featured in the highlights are these pieces by Dani Marti, Anne Zahalka, Janet Laurence and John Young.
ANNE ZAHALKA 'The Artist is Present' Sessions Available
BOOK NOW: The Artist is Present
During Anne Zahalka's exhibition ZAHALKAWORLD: an artist’s archive, now running at the National Art School, Sydney, there is a special opportunity for small groups of gallery visitors (individual bookings possible) to speak with the artist directly and find out more about her work.
Zahalka will join the 15 minute sessions remotely from her studio in Newtown, Sydney, while visitors will be able to connect with her from inside her ZAHALKAWORLD kunstkammer studio at NAS. Come prepared with questions!
Bookings are essential. Head to the National Art School website to secure your session. Maximum group size of 5 people per session.
The Artist is Present: ZAHALKAWORLD – An artist’s archive
📅 Thursday 29 August, Thursday 5 September, Thursday 12 September 2024
Bookings essential via the National Art School website
📍National Art School, Sydney
ANNE ZAHALKA in conversation at The National Art School
IN CONVERSATION TODAY
This afternoon (Saturday, 17 August 2024, 2PM), join Anouska Phizacklea, Director of the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) in conversation with acclaimed Australian artist Anne Zahalka at the National Art School, Sydney.
Zahalka will discuss the her career spanning four decades, the survey exhibition ZAHALKAWORLD: an artist’s archive and key themes explored within her practice.
IN CONVERSATION: ZAHALKAWORLD – An artist’s archive
📅 17 August 2024, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Bookings essential via the National Art School website
📍National Art School, Sydney
ZAHALKAWORLD opens at The National Art School
Last night we celebrated the opening of Anne Zahalka's survey exhibition at the National Art School, ZAHALKAWORLD – An artist’s archive. Swipe through to see beautiful images from the opening, which was launched by NAS CEO and Director, Steven Alderton, alongside exhibition curator Anouska Phizacklea.
First presented in Naarm/Melbourne at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) in 2023, this iteration of ZAHALKAWORLD at the National Art School will contain over 100 artworks from 15 different photographic series, including the iconic Resemblance series, Bondi: Playground of the Pacific and the more recent Wild Life series.
Also on display will be the Kunstkammer – a life-size recreation of Zahalka’s house-studio within the gallery space, for which she won the Bowness Prize in 2023. Imaginative, immersive and playful, the installation invites audiences into the artist’s working life and creative process to explore the illusionary worlds for which she is renowned.
ANNE ZAHALKA features in Age Article
Anne Zahalka was in The Age this weekend, talking to journalist Helen Pitt on the eve of ZAHALKAWORLD – An artist’s archive travelling to the National Art School in Sydney:
"At 67, as she prepares for a major survey exhibition at her alma mater, the National Art School (NAS), it is easy to see why one of Australia’s most highly regarded photo-media artists is in a reflective mood. Her work spans more than 40 years and 40 solo shows and is in major international collections. This retrospective assembles more than 100 works from 15 different photographic series, alongside collected ephemera from her studio and archive."
Read the rest of the piece here >
ANNE ZAHALKA featured at Wollongong Art Gallery
Anne Zahalka is currently featured in the exhibition 'Shifting Ground - Landscape from the Collection' from the Wollongong Art Gallery.
Shifting Ground is an exhibition of over 50 works traversing both traditional and contemporary perspectives of landscape art, including works which present First Nations stories of place, climate change and environmental impacts, the effects of colonisation, settlement and the many approaches artists take to capture different fragments, reflections and narratives within landscapes.
SHIFTING GROUND
📅 23 March - 3 November 2024
📍Wollongong Art Gallery, Corner Kembla & Burelli Sts, Wollongong
IMAGE: Anne Zahalka, You Are On Dharawal Land!, 2020, Archival pigment ink on rag paper, edition of 3 + 1 A/P, 115 x 190 cm
Anne Zahalka featured in the La Gacilly Photo Festival, France
Anne Zahalka is currently featured in the La Gacilly Photo Festival in France. Her Wild Life Australia series used the artificial space of museum dioramas to explore the constructed quality of the past (and the future).
Since 2004, the La Gacilly Photo Festival has been defined by its unique geographical setting at the heart of the rural environment in Brittany, and by its commitment to the great environmental challenges facing society. Zahalka's work is included alongside Louise Johns, Bobbi Lockyer, Matthew Abbott, Adam Ferguson, Narelle Autio, Trent Parke, Tamara Dean and more.
LA GACILLY PHOTO FESTIVAL
📅 21 June - 3 November
📍La Gacilly, La Chapelle-Gaceline, France
MURRAY FREDERICKS, JANET LAURENCE & ANNE ZAHALKA Feature in the 2024 MAPh X Artist photography auction
MAPh X Artist photography auction
Book tickets now for your chance to bid on these three magnificent works by Murray Fredericks, Anne Zahalka and Janet Laurence.
MAPh has joined forces with artists to create a unique auction where we will share equally in the sale proceeds of their work, giving buyers the opportunity to have a direct impact on artists and their practice. MAPH is also offering absentee and telephone bidding.
MAPh X Artist photography auction
📅 Thursday 6 June 2024, 6pm for 7pm auction. Drinks and canapés on arrival
📍James Makin Gallery, 89 Islington St, Collingwood VIC 3066
Full catalogue including estimates and booking details via @maph_photography
IMAGES:
1. Murray FREDERICKS
BLAZE #28 2023
from the series BLAZE
pigment ink-jet print
120.0 x 150.0 cm
2. Anne ZAHALKA
You Are On Bondi Bidjigal Land! 2020
pigment ink-jet print on cotton rag
115.0 x 190.0 cm
3 - 5. Janet LAURENCE
In your verdant view 2020
Duraclear print on Shinkolite acrylic
4 panels, 30 x 28 cm each
ANNE ZAHALKA part of the La Gacilly Photo Festival in regional France
Anne Zahalka joins photographers Bobbi Lockyer, Matthew Abbott, Adam Ferguson, Narelle Autio, Trent Park and Tamara Dean in the La Gacilly Photo Festival opening 1 June 2024.
Festival photo of La Gacilly is a festival in an authentic village in France, with big pictures in open air, with free entrance for the visitors during summer from june to september. Every year, 320 000 people come to visit the exhibits, and we are very honored to have exhibited some prestigious photographers like Josef Koudelka, Seydou Keïta, Nick Brandt, Claudia Andujar, Steeve Mc Curry, Raymond Depardon, Sebastiao Salgado, Brent Stirton, Elliott Erwitt, Marc Riboud, Sarah Moon, Mario Giacomelli, Edouard Boubat, Michael Kenna, Paolo Pellegrin, Pascal Maitre, Gohar Dashti, Pentti Sammallahti. Their editorial goal concerns the link between Human and Earth. This year (in 2024) we make a focus on the Australian photography with artists who document our planet, and make story about biodiversity, the beauty of nature, the senses, the human being in their social environment.
ANNE ZAHALKA - Future Past Present Tense
ANNE ZAHALKA | NEW EXHIBITION
FUTURE PAST PRESENT TENSE
1 March – 6 April 2024
📍Opening: Friday, 1 March, 5.30PM, ARC ONE Gallery
All welcome
This exhibition is presented as part of PHOTO 2024.
—
Artificial truths are Anne Zahalka’s preoccupation. Drawn to the constructed aspect of dioramas, Zahalka has spent many years working with the airless logic of museum displays.
In her new exhibition FUTURE PAST PRESENT TENSE, Zahalka inserts the original diorama-makers—scientists, assistants, and illustrators—into the scenes themselves. This meta-narrative gives the dioramas a recursive effect, akin to ‘embalming the embalmer’, like a waxwork of Madame Tussauds.
With a career spanning 40 years, Anne Zahalka is a landmark artist in Australian contemporary art. Her work explores cultural and environmental points of tension, interrogating them with humour and a critical perspective. Appreciated by audiences and curators alike, her work starts conversations.
ANNE ZAHALKA wins William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize
Last night Sydney-based artist Anne Zahalka was named winner of the 2023 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize for her work Kunstkammer (2023).
Rhana Devenport (ONZM, Director, Art Gallery of South Australia) and Michael Cook (Brisbane-based contemporary photographic artist of Bidjara heritage) joined MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea to select the winner and three Honourable Mentions from a shortlist of 66 exceptional works.
The judges comments:
'Anne Zahalka’s archival project is a mammoth undertaking documenting a lifetime of practice, both monumental and intimate, this work is rare and important.' — Rhana Devenport
'I was looking for works that created an emotional response and was amazed with the depth in the entire field. Winner Anne Zahalka’s work stood out given the huge scale she has produced that travels beyond the two dimensions.' — Michael Cook
'Anne’s Zahalka’s ‘Kunstkammer’ is a tour-de-force reflecting a practice that she has sustained for more than 40 years. This work challenges assumptions about photography and how immersive and experiential it can be on a grand scale. It invites you into the artist’s process and innerworkings in a way few artists have ever achieved.' — Anouska Phizacklea
Visit MAPh to view this work, alongside the other incredible finalists.
'ZAHALKAWORLD: an artist's archive' opens at MAPh
Coming to Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) this June: ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive.
Imaginative, immersive and playful, the exhibition invites audiences into the ANNE ZAHALKA's working life and her creative process to explore the illusionary worlds for which she is renowned. Accompanying the exhibition will be a major publication proudly supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation.
ARC ONE Gallery hosts MAPh's Artist Photography Auction
This week ARC ONE Gallery is hosting the MAPh Artist photography auction, where lucky bidders can vie for gorgeous works from the likes of Honey Long & Prue Stent, Murray Fredericks, Lydia Wegner and Anne Zahalka.
Tickets are strictly limited, so book now to avoid disappointment.
MAPh has created a unique auction, where the proceeds from sales will be shared equally with the artists, allowing buyers to impact artists and their practice directly. Funds raised through the sale of these artworks will help shape the future of photography in Australia by supporting MAPh's exhibition program, artists and their creative practices.
ANNE ZAHALKA Upcoming Solo Exhibition: ZAHALKAWORLD – An artist’s archive
Coming to Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) this June: ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive.
Imaginative, immersive and playful, the exhibition invites audiences into the ANNE ZAHALKA's working life and her creative process to explore the illusionary worlds for which she is renowned. Accompanying the exhibition will be a major publication proudly supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation.
10 June - 10 September 2023
ANNE ZAHALKA on display at the Wollongong Art Gallery
ANNE ZAHALKA, You Are On Dharawal Land!, 2020, archival pigment ink on rag paper, edition of 3, 115 x 190 cm.
ANNE ZAHALKA's absorbing image is on display on Dharawal Land, at the Wollongong Art Gallery, in the new exhibition 'REFLECTION: Works from the Collection'.
In this work "Zahalka crouches in the foreground of the Illawarra undergrowth as both observer, stranger and witness to the landscape populated by introduced species, including a group of tourists. A haze of smoke can also be seen towards the tops of the trees, referencing the ongoing bushfire smoke that covered the rainforest at the time of the making of the work." This wonderful description is courtesy of Boroondara’s Town Hall Gallery exhibition catalogue, 'You are here' from 2020.
REFLECTION is open 1 April to 20 August 2023.
ANNE ZAHALKA Features in 'Recreation: Art, Sport and Leisure' at Project8 Gallery
See this dazzling ANNE ZAHALKA work on display in the exhibition RECREATION: ART, SPORT AND LEISURE opening tonight from 6PM at Project8 Gallery.
'Santa’s Kingdom Christmas Tunnel, Fox Studios, Sydney' (2003/04) depicts adults wandering mesmerised through a tunnel decorated with Christmas baubles and fairy lights. Transported to a world of make-believe, they obediently file through on their journey to Santa’s Kingdom. Thsi work was the pinnacle of Zahalka's ‘Leisureland’ series.
See you at @project8gallery Friday 24 February, Level 2, 417 Collins Street Melbourne.