Anne Zahalka

Anne Zahalka
Australian, born 1957; lives and works in Sydney

The Immigrants 1983
collage mounted on cardboard
Courtesy of the artist, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne, and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney
© Anne Zahalka

Anne Zahalka deconstructs McCubbin’s paintings to present an alternative viewpoint: one that is more reflective of actual experiences and some of the realities of life in the recent history of Australia.

In The Immigrants Zahalka reworks a commercial reproduction of McCubbin’s The pioneer 1904, collaging photographs of herself and family members over the archetypal Australian pioneering figures that populate the original version. The impact of these interventions rises from Zahalka’s personal narrative: her parents came to Australia as post-World War II refugees, and as a first-generation child of immigrants she questioned the place of her family within Australia’s then predominantly Anglo-Celtic demographic. Zahalka draws on the iconicity of McCubbin’s work to literally implant her family’s story on the Australian landscape.