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Born and resides Sydney, Australia
In her newest series "Natural Wonders," Anne Zahalka turns her lens toward landscapes and destinations related to tourism and leisure. Highlighting the idea that often nature is not natural at all, Zahalka's chosen scenes and locales blur the lines between natural and human constructions. By slightly digitally altering and heightening man-made landscapes that are both surreal and hyper-real , Zahalka—a self-described “photo media artist”—asks us to consider further what is “artificial” and what is “real.” Taken mostly in the southwestern region of Australia, her images touch on a universal human urge—to pursue recreation in re-created nature and to recreate nature within Nature itself. In Santa’s Kingdom, Christmas Tunnel, Fox Studios, Sydney, for example, tourists wander through a cavern of make-believe, exploding with lights and ornaments, while in English Garden, Weston Park, Australian Capital Territory, kangaroos dot a well-manicured Australian adaptation of a British garden. Mini-Golf Course, Lake Hume Resort, New South Wales could be anywhere in the world—its sculpted turf, trees, and greens provide a suitable stage-like background for an activity where entertainment, sport, and pop culture meet.
Zahalka was born in 1957 in Sydney, Australia. She received her Bachelor of (Visual) Arts and Post Graduate Diploma from the Sydney College of the Arts and her MFA from the University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts. Her work is included in almost every major collection in Australia and was represented in the National Gallery of Australia's recent publication on art in their collection. Additionally, she is a recipient of a prestigious Australia Council Fellowship. Related series include “Welcome to Sydney,” a major commission on exhibit at the Sydney International Airport, and “Leisureland,” selections of which have toured to the Netherlands as a part of the Naarden FotoFestival, the ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair in Spain, and parts of Asia. Selected works from “Natural Wonders” were exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in 2004 and will tour Asia later this year. Zahalka has frequently exhibited in Europe and Asia, but this will be the first time her work has been shown in the US. She is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney, Australia). Zahalka’s artistic interests intersect her personal and professional realms at all levels; she also operates a family bed and breakfast. >>>
