Artist subject to review into provenance of Indigenous art takes out Wynne Prize

Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW have shrugged off controversy around the provenance of Indigenous works from an Adelaide Indigenous art centre collective to name one of its leading artists as this year’s winner of the Wynne Prize.

Zaachariaha Fielding took out the sister art prize to the Archibald for a monumental monochromatic work Inma that depicts movement and sounds from his home town of Mimili, a community in the eastern part of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.

Winner of the 2023 Wynne Prize Zaachariaha Fielding with his work, Inma.Credit: Steven Siewert

Fielding, who is the lead vocalist of the electronic music duo Electric Fields, immediately burst into song. “I am humbled and honoured to be a part of this,” Fielding said.

The Wynne is Australia’s oldest art prize and is awarded by the Art Gallery’s trustees for best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figure sculpture. Fielding is part of the APY Lands Art Centre Collective’s Adelaide Centre whose 28 works for an upcoming National Gallery of Australia exhibition are currently being examined over the issue of provenance.

The NGA has appointed Melbourne barrister Colin Golvan and Sydney lawyer Shane Simpson to determine whether those works were painted under the creative control of the artists. They have yet to report their findings. Another of Fielding’s paintings Unlace, 2022, is subject to that review.

The panel was formed following allegations published by The Australian that studio assistants had a role in the creation of Indigenous artwork at the Adelaide studio in a way that might have interfered with or overruled the artists’ visions.

The artist did not address the claims directly but in his acceptance speech said he had “seen a lot of crazy from this industry which is very interesting”. Fielding paid tribute to centre staff who had encouraged him to pick up a paintbrush as well as the collective’s founder Sky O’Meara.

Electric Fields perform in Adelaide.Credit: Jiayuan Liang & Xplorer Studio

“We know who we are, we stand strong,” he said. “I am so proud of our work, our studio, our staff and my own teachers. This is for all the people who choose joy and beauty and the song over fight.

“My work is called Inma which in English is cultural song and dance. I am my work, I live my work, I live it in my studio in Adelaide and I live it in my life.”

The multidisciplinary artist began painting with his father, Robert, in 2019 but the art turned serious when Electric Fields’ gigs were cancelled in America due to the pandemic.

“Money stopped flowing, so I went into the canvas and that was my new stage and I think I’ve performed very, very well in it. I’m the therapist and patient at the same time,” he said.

Memory of Country inspires Fielding’s talent in art and music. The painting’s title Inma is “an emotion and a particular place”, he said.

Asked what’s next, Fielding said: “I need to go home, I haven’t been home since April last year, and I need to go back to this country I’m painting. That’s the first thing I need to do.”

The Art Gallery’s curator of Australian art, Anne Ryan, said she admired Fielding’s award-winning work for its innovation in weaving Western Desert text with spatial forms.

“This is a younger artist who’s taken on the culture of an older generation and making it his own. He’s absolutely exuberant and full of energy, and there is this confidence in his picture. For an artist early on in his visual art career, it’s pretty impressive.”

The Art Gallery of NSW said it was aware of the allegations published by The Australian and was following the issue closely. “We also strongly believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right to self-determination in their cultural affairs and expression of cultural matters.”

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