ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive

The National Art School presents a major survey exhibition of Anne Zahalka, one of Australia’s most highly regarded photo-media artists, at NAS Gallery from 16 August – 19 October 2024.

First exhibited at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) in 2023, ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive brings together key bodies of work from Zahalka’s renowned photographic practice.

Anne ZAHALKA, The Artist (self portrait), 1988

Spanning more than 40 years, the exhibition at NAS Gallery will see over 100 works from 15 different photographic series, alongside collected ephemera from her studio and archive.

An informal series of collaborative lunchtime talks with the staff and lecturers of NAS’s Art History and Theory and Photomedia departments. Anne Zahalka is one of the key figures in the Post-Modernist critique of images of Australia and the constructed photograph.

Her body of work intersects with all levels of the National Art School’s Art History and Theory and Photo Media teaching programs.

Join Dr Michael Hill and Dr Alex Kershaw and NAS staff lecturers as they respond to Anne Zahalka’s body of works presented in Zahalkaworld- an artist’s archive with their particular lens of interests. Free. All welcome!

  • Thursday 29 August, 12.30pm
  • Thursday 12 September,12.30pm
  • Thursday 19 September,12.30pm

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May

Sydney: Until 16 August 2026. PIX, Australia’s first pictorial news weekly, is brought to life in this exhibition, showcasing its archived images and stories for the very first time.

Melbourne: Until March 2027. Rehearsing the City presents archival photographs from Victoria’s government collections, alongside new work by contemporary street photographers.

Coffs Harbour: 28 May – 29 June 2026. West Of Somewhere East is a photographic series tracing a cinematic journey through the interior of New South Wales, shaped by long drives, fleeting encounters, and the reflective rhythm of return.

June

Melbourne: 5 March – 7 August 2026. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, artist and social documentary photographer Viva Gibb (1945-2017) documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived.

Sydney: Until 7 Feb 2027. From his archive of more than 200,000 images, Close Up celebrates the historic moments and pivotal people he famously captured.

Canberra: Until 6 Sept 2026. Trent Parke’s photographic series The Christmas tree bucket 2006–09 is a tender and darkly humorous portrayal of his extended family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

Sydney: until 4 July 2026. A Breath Before Dawn is a meditation on memory, inheritance and the unresolved presence of history within the body.

Sydney: June 6 – 19 July 2026. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 is returning to the State Library of New South Wales from 6 June to 19 July, offering Sydney audiences an uncompromising view of of the unending challenges that humans, and our planet face.

Melbourne: 6 June – 20 August 2026. Brook Andrew is an artist whose conceptual practice shifts across photography, performance, moving image, installation, public space and research, often through deep collaboration with artists, communities and friends.

Melbourne: 6 June – 28 June 2-26. We Built a House Out of Water is a deeply personal body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process.