4

Bondi: Playground of the Pacific

-Anne Zahalka
1. Artist
Anne Zahalka focuses on stereotypical representations of identity, using humor as her
main means of overthrowing existing myths and stereotypes about different cultures and
races. Zahalka was born in Australia and comes from an immigrant family. She grew up
in a time period when immigration rates were increasing and more and more Australians
were becoming aware of different diverse cultural groups. This is reflected greatly in her
works, especially those in which she portrays themes of multiculturalism and identity. In
this series, Anne Zahalka questions the historical representations of Australian
beaches, with idealised Australian ‘types’. Instead of conforming with what people
thought Australia was like, she added cultural differences to question it and sought out
to make people understand these cultural stereotypes. Zahalka uses typical art
conventions but reinvents them by adding irony and humor, exaggerating the diversity
of it. She was motivated by both personal and national identity, stereotyping and
multiculturalism. Zahalka is famous for her studio-style photography and has her
trademark staged style. She constructed temporary sets on location and got her friends
and acquaintances to model for her. She was also inspired by Charles Meer’s idealised
images of “Australian Beach culture”. Zahalka’s works loosely portray Meer’s artworks
but instead of his subjects, she replaces them with a more diverse range of body types
and cultural backgrounds, hoping to represent modern Australian culture. Max Dupain’s
work: ‘Sunbather (1973)’ of a tan, muscular sunbather is an ideal representation of
Australian beach culture. Zahalka juxtaposes this image with a re-staging of Dupain’s
sunbaker as a pale, scrawny, redhead lying in the sand.

Anne Zahalka
The Sunbather #2 (1989, printed 1990)
 4

2. World
Anne Zahalka’s work was done during the decades of ‘wet photography’ and exists in
the timeframe of the 1980s to present. The era in which she produced her artworks saw
the rise in digital photography. An increasing amount of immigrants found home in
Australia during that time. Cities expanded and new business popped up everywhere
bringing in new challenges and enabling Australians to become aware of the different
cultural groups and races that existed. In the 1980s, photography evolved into
contemporary art with artists and photographers using staged methods to produce
artworks instead of the conventional way of photography. The rise of postmodernism in
this period saw a rise in artists challenging stereotypes and questioning the nature of
conventional photography, as Zahalka does in this series.

Anne Zahalka
The Sunbather #1, from the series
“Bondi: Playground of the Pacific”

3. The Artwork
-‘The Bathers’ by Anne Zahalka

In this image, Anne Zahalka explores the relationship immigrants have with their new
country. She explores the everyday stereotypes we create and the personalities beyond
those stereotypes. This specific photograph is loosely based on Charles Meer’s
artworks which she differentiates by providing a range of different body types and
cultures. By doing this, she employs a more realistic approach to this image and
completely challenges the ideal. The artist satirizes Australians and the way they
discern tourists and she uses to humor to make fun of Australian beach culture. Most of
Zahalka’s photographs, including this one, are staged in a studio and have her
trademark staged style. It also has a touch of feminism throughout the image. The
female throwing a volleyball is glorified in the centre of the image, conveying a sense of
 4

superiority while the male subjects are pushed to the back of the display. This, along
with the woman’s pose makes her seem stronger as opposed to the lanky, skinny male
figure behind her in a straight pose. Zahalka also uses a range of postmodern
techniques to compose her artworks. Through reference, Zahalka allows the visual
images of the past to enter our modern contemporary world, and at the same time,
creates new meanings for new audiences. The artist wanted to show us how people
adapt to new countries and surroundings, how they adjust to highly urbanised areas and
standards of living and how people and immigrants are perceived by other people as
tourists. This photo, shot in 1989, was photographed at Bondi pavillion. The models
were shot in front of a painted background on top of sand brought in from the beach.
This photographic image was printed as a Large format Type C photograph which
allowed the production of very large prints that retained high resolution.

“The Bathers” by Anne Zahalka

 4

4. Audience
Anne Zahalka’s work can be found in International and national collections. Her works
are exhibited in galleries and museums, reaching art audiences as well as members of
the public. Anne Zahalka has taken her work into largely crowded public places such as
Sydney airport in order to reach a larger audience. Her works are aimed mostly at
Australians who mistake the identity of immigrants coming into Australia. She also
wanted to convey the message of the people behind the loose term ‘immigrants’. Anne
Zahalka’s photographs continue to engage with contemporary art and its audience by
viewing beach culture through a cultural lens. Her photographs express her personal
view and she hopes that the audience will respond to the people in her photographs as
individuals with strong ethnic backgrounds and for the audience to understand the
symbolic lives of who they are. She uses humor because she believes that it helps an
audience react immediately by identifying with the contents of the photograph or by
seeing themselves reflected in the image. She wanted to make the readers aware of
their own complexity and to question their own understanding.

Anne Zahalka
The Surfers (1989, printed 1990):
From “Bondi: Playground of the Pacific”

Anne Zahalka
The tourists (1989, printed 1990)
From “Bondi: Playground of the Pacific"