Australian artist Anne Zahalka lived on her own for the first time during a working stay at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in 1986/87, separated from everything that was familiar to her in a country with a strange culture and language. She found enjoyment in this sense of ‘being foreign’ and the resultant anonymity, which enabled her to achieve an unexpectedly comfortable distance, from which she could become an observer.
The series The Wanderer upon a Castle Came …. is Zahalka’s attempt, using artistic means, to describe the strangeness of Berlin and the feelings that being here triggered for her initially. The old, Gothic-style building of Bethanien, where she was living, was in direct proximity to the Berlin Wall – the disturbing, inhumane border. The physical and psychological presence of this structure decisively influenced Zahalka’s perception of her surroundings.
Anne Zahalka’s exhibition is being presented in the context of the EMOP – European Month of Photography Berlin. | www.emop-berlin.eu