The Surfers

Artist Anne Zahalka (born 1957)

Date1989

Object number00030675

NamePhotograph

MediumType c print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 950 x 1100 mm, 0.17 kg
Display dimensions: 1192 × 1344 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThree Japanese surfers photographed by Anne Zahalka, part of the series 'Bondi: Playground of the Pacific'. In the series Zahalka used a painted background of Bondi Beach, against which she placed icons drawn from the Australian beach. In this reflexive image the surfers are Japanese, rather than the stereotypical blonde haired, bronzed Australian 'type', reflecting changes in Australian society and culture.HistoryAnne Zahalka's Bondi series documents aspects of Australia's beach and leisure culture and identity. The artist has had a continuing preoccupation with these themes and the profile they have in the promotion of national identities. She examines the theatre of sporting and leisure events, in a setting which is both real and unreal. The young Japanese men in 'The Surfer' are posed in a studio setting that has been carefully constructed to emulate a stereotypical beach scene. Their racial background challenges the traditional Anglo-Celtic 'type', reflecting changes in Australian society and culture.SignificanceThis photograph from the 'Bondi: Playground of the Pacific' series is an important satirical and affectionate look at the Australian beach experience and our changing notions of the bronzed Australian hero and the Anglo-Celtic model of the nuclear family.