Homeground! & Bondi the Beautiful

Bondi in winter is a magical place – the crowds have thinned and the sun sparkles on the waves. It may be too chilly for a swim, but you can discover art, music, fashion, and magic on the street, and ice-skating on the beach!

Each year Bondi celebrates winter with the Bondi Winter Magic Festival and this year for the first time ever we are thrilled to be able to present the official Bondi Winter Magic Poster Art Trail!

The 2011 Poster Art Trail is presented by Anne Zahalka, one of Australia’s most highly-regarded photomedia artists. The Poster Art Trail features Anne Zahalka’s Homeground! – a series of photographic posters installed in the display boxes around Bondi Beach. These posters are a contemporary take on the classic KB, Reschs and Tooheys advertising posters that adorned the walls of pubs from the 30s to the 70’s in New South Wales.

Based on the original pub paintings that idealised Australian sport and leisure, Zahalka has reworked these images to reflect on cultural and social stereotyping and changes in demographic and lifestyle that have taken place since. Homeground! is an exploration and celebration of the citizens of Sydney with its diverse and colourful communities.

Accompanying the Homeground! Poster Art Trail, Anne Zahalka is showing a new body of work titled ‘Bondi The Beautiful’ in the Bondi Pavilion Gallery from July 12-24 . This fun and interactive exhibition presents images taken by Zahalka in an open photography studio held at the recent Bondi the Beautiful Sea Fair.

This is a Waverley Council project.