Representing Culture

What is Culture?

Culture refers to the shared beliefs, customs, traditions, languages, arts, and social behaviours of a particular group of people. It can be shaped by history, geography, ethnicity, religion, and social structures. Culture influences how people see themselves and interact with the world.

What is Cultural Representation?

Cultural representation refers to how different cultures are depicted in media, art, advertising, and other forms of communication. It shapes public perceptions, reinforces or challenges stereotypes, and influences who is seen, how they are seen, and who is excluded.

Why Cultural Representation Matters

Power & Identity: Representation affects how people see themselves and how others see them.
Inclusivity & Diversity: Accurate representation helps societies reflect their true diversity.
Challenging Stereotypes: Media can reinforce or challenge outdated or biased views.
Shaping National Identity: What is chosen to represent a nation influences its global image.

Anne Zahalka: Photographer

Anne Zahalka is one of Australia’s leading photographic artists, known for exploring how culture, identity and society are represented through images. Her work often reinterprets traditional artworks or tourist scenes, adding artificial elements to make viewers question what is real and how culture is shown. Through series like Resemblance and her use of tourist imagery, Zahalka highlights how photography can shape and challenge our ideas about people, places, and history.

Spot The Difference

Not really but you should consider the following questions:

What do you notice about these images?

What is different?

What is similar?

Dupain - The Sunbaker #2

Dupain, M. (1937) The Sunbaker #2, URL

Zahalka - The Sunbaker #2

Zahalka, A. (1989) The Sunbather #2, URL

Seurat - Bathers at Asnières

Seurat, G. 'Bathers at Asnières' (1884), URL

Zahalka - The Bathers

Zahalka, A. (1989) The Bathers, from the series Bondi: playground of the Pacific, URL

Australians & Beaches

The Beach: Anne ZahalkaShort extract from the program 'The Beach'.

Comments on The Bathers

‘I am primarily concerned with … representations to do with place, identity and culture. Through the appropriation and reworking of familiar icons and styles I seek to question (and understand) their influence, meaning and value…. The series ‘Bondi: playground of the Pacific’ evolved from a six month residency at the Bondi pavilion. The project looked at Bondi’s status as a significant cultural site and questioned the dominant representations that mythologise and embody it.’ Anne Zahalka 1995.

A. & Williamson (2007) Letter to Anne Kirker - 1996, Art Gallery of New South Wales Photography Collection Handbook

In her tableau photographs, Anne Zahalka makes the viewer think more carefully about what they are seeing. She does this by taking well-known images from the media and Australian art history and remaking them to show the diversity of modern life, rather than old-fashioned ideas. In her series Bondi: Playground of the Pacific, Zahalka uses a painted beach background and plays with famous icons of Australian beach culture. Max Dupain’s famous sunbather becomes a pale, skinny redhead while her recreation of 'The Bathers' shows a more diverse, athletic and familial group than 'The Bathers at Asnières' who are more individual, more passive and leisurely.

Comments on Culture / Identity

TLDR

Identity, Place & Belonging

Her work explores identity, sense of place, belonging, and loss.
“I have always been interested in how identity is constructed and framed.”

Reworking Colonial Imagery

She revisits and challenges historical paintings, particularly colonial ones, to rewrite dominant narratives.
“I started working with early imagery from painting and reworking it, in an attempt to hold a mirror up to society.”

Cultural Diversity & Representation