NEWS
ZAFAA19 Winners
The Ashburton Art Gallery in partnership with Zonta Club of Ashburton are delighted to present the Zonta Ashburton Female Art Award 2019 (ZAFAA19), an annual exhibition at the Gallery now in its third year. This exhibition highlights the work of female visual artists in Canterbury, and promotes excellence in emerging and mid-career female artists.
The work of the 46 finalists (28 for the Premier Award, and 18 for the Young Generation Award) were presented in the awards exhibition which opened on Friday 1st March alongside ZAFAA18 premier winner Emma Fitts’s solo exhibition, Towards Another Figure.
The judges called the winning work “spellbinding”. They described the work as ”a poetic distillation and reinterpretation of place, it somehow conveys a sense of both stillness and temporality. It’s a study in how the power of our attention can alter and transform what we see, and also a reminder that it’s not always the loudest voice in the room that is the most memorable”.
Christchurch based artist Melissa Macleod took home the title of Premier Winner which carries a cash prize of $3,500 and also the invaluable opportunity to extend her practice with a solo exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery in 2020.
The ZAFAA19 Young Generation Award went to Lucinda Webber for her entry Through Closed Doors.
Which judges exemplified for its “mature, cinematic and eerie qualities”.
The ZAFAA awards exhibition and Emma Fitts’s solo exhibition will run from the 2nd of March until 7th April 2019. In conjuction with her exhibition Emma Fitts will present a floor talk on Saturday 16th March at 2:00pm.
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 businesses:
Real Estate New Zealand, House of Travel, ANZ Private Bank, Bushey Park Trust, Everist Gilchrist Lawyers, Mid Canterbury Business Solutions, CarRess Vineyard, Karen Hall, Lushingtons, Body ‘n’ Beauty Worx.