Jan Murphy Gallery is proud to present ‘Araltjarinyi – Unlace’, our first solo exhibition with Zaachariaha Fielding. Raised on desert country in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Zaachariaha comes from a long line of multi-disciplinary artists. His energetic and visceral paintings are embedded with iconography that reflects the way he lives his culture in the present, as a constant feature of his world, honouring Anangu culture and his inherited Tjukurpa.
“I find I have a lot more clarity when I’m on the Lands (APY Lands- my home communities). It’s more than that though, it goes beyond how I feel, there just IS more clarity, in everything. I take pride in ‘performing’ with these knowledges, both Western and Anangu. They entwine and unlace when I’m making work- both in my music and visual arts practice.
Some of my artwork is spontaneous but predominantly it is memory based, sifting through and digging around in my memory and drawing on experiences, sounds, shapes. When I find things that don’t make sense, that don’t have clarity, it creates a curiosity in me and I’m compelled to play with it, to tease it out, untie it and repackage it. Because of the two knowledges I possess, Culture is not a thing for me, it’s purely about connection. That’s my story at the moment. That’s where I sit.” Zaachariaha Fielding, 2022
These radically joyful and storied paintings are busy and expressive, with bold use of golds and metallics alongside finer details that allude to the cosmologies of the APY lands. The exhibition also features two collaborative works with senior Pitjantjatjara artist Yaritji Young, the first time the artists have worked together in an intergenerational exchange of ideas, stories and culture.
Well known in Australia and abroad as one half of electronic music duo ‘Electric Fields’, Zaachariaha Fielding comes from a strong family lineage of artists and storytellers. Currently based in South Australia, Fielding’s work has been recognised in major art awards, most notably as a finalist in the Ramsay Art Prize at Art Gallery of South Australia (2021) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards at Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (2021). His work is currently held in important public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Artbank and numerous private collections.
Yaritji Young appears courtesy of Tjala Arts and APY Art Centre Collective.
Image credit: Zaachariaha Fielding, ‘Untitled (80-22)’, 2022, acrylic on linen, 196.0 x 182.0 cm
