ZAFAA21 Winners Announced

After being postponed for two weeks due to COVID-19 alert level changes, the Ashburton Art Gallery and Zonta Club of Ashburton were thrilled to host the Awards Evening for the Zonta Ashburton Female Art Awards 2021 (ZAFAA21) on Friday 19 March.

Now in its fifth year, ZAFAA is the only art award in New Zealand which focuses on the art of emerging to mid-career female artists. Ashburton Art Gallery Manager/Curator Shirin Khosraviani used the opportunity to encourage both would-be entrants and past entrants to continue entering, acknowledging the courage and determination needed to do so.

This year, 24 finalists were selected from 73 entries for the Premier Award, the highest number of entries to date. The exhibition is complemented by 19 entries in the Young Generation Award category, for those aged 16-20 years.

This year’s Premier Award was won by Christchurch artist Jacquelyn Greenbank and her work As good as ten mothers, a necklace of ten life-like garlic bulbs, carved from a wooden bowling ball and strung together with a harakeke tie. The artwork alludes to the superstition of wearing garlic around one’s neck to ward off disease.

Judge Lydia Baxendell, speaking on behalf of the judges Sarah McClintock, Cheryl Lucas commended the “kiwi resourcefulness and sense of humour” of Greenbank’s work, which was “playful, decorative, realistic and well-made and references to where we are in the world, both geographically and emotionally”.

Like many of the artworks in the exhibition, Greenbank created this piece during the level one lockdown, a time when resources were not always available so artists used materials that they had nearby. Other artworks in the exhibition were made of found rusted wire, repurposed venetian blinds, offcuts of wood and a series of lockdown selfies. The judges noted that these artworks reflected the fragility, resilience, self-obsession and humour of the artists.

Along with a cash prize of $3,500, Greenbank has also won the invaluable opportunity to create a solo exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery in 2022.

The ZAFAA20 Young Generation Award went to Mia Heywood for her photographic entry Memento. The judges were impressed that the work “conveyed as sense of unease while having excellent composition” and noting that they saw promise in her future

The ZAFAA awards exhibition will be on display until 6 April 2021. Visitors to the Gallery are encouraged to choose their favourite artwork for the People’s Choice award.

Winner of the ZAFAA20 Premier Award, Janna van Hasselt’s exhibition Chromasill is also currently on display at the Gallery. The rainbow-coloured, draping, oozing and toppling ceramic forms of this show are set against a glowing fluorescent backdrop creating a hum of colour and texture that is delighting all who visit. Chromasill will run until 26th April 2021.

The awards exhibition is delivered through a partnership between the Zonta Club of Ashburton and the Ashburton Art Gallery, and generously supported by the following local organisations:

Ashburton District Creative Communities, Forsyth Barr, ANZ Private Banking, Bushey Park Trust, Everist Gilchrist Lawyers, Agribuild Consultants and Valuers, Samantha Rose Flowers and Straight Eight Estate Vineyard.

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