Making art is stimulating and consuming. It can be difficult, challenging and frustrating but it brings great insight to me, and hopefully to others. When work is resolved and the audience engages with it, there is a great sense of satisfaction. It is gratifying when work is acquired and continues to live on in the homes of others, or acquired by institutions and sits alongside great artists. This is very affirming. I do worry about the accumulation of unsold and unresolved works and wonder where it will all go one day – it sometimes keeps me awake at night.

I work from an archive of familiar and mainstream images, subverting and questioning these in a critical and humorous way. My work has often examined cultural, ethnic and gender stereotyping and I reconstruct these to reflect on difference, diversity and the everyday. I work with photomedia and my practice at times involves photo-montage, tableau-staged scenes, documentary modes, video and sometimes sound. Most of my created works are for exhibition and installation while some have been commissioned for public spaces such as the international airport.

I value having an organisation that protects and manages my intellectual property. Creating artworks and knowing there are guidelines and laws ensuring the integrity of the work is upheld is very important, particularly with all the infringements that can occur. I have had my works reproduced often and this has provided a small revenue stream that has endured over the years. Receiving my first payment from Copyright Agency | Viscopy in 2010 was like being awarded a small grant. It made a real difference!

I’ve been a member of Viscopy since the early 90s and came to the organisation through advice from the Arts Law Centre. I liked the idea of being able to generate income through the licensing of my artworks from their database but came to realise that there was a lot more valuable work being done to assist artists.

Art and artists are my inspiration whether from literature, film, music or visual media. They have made, and continue to make an important contribution to our culture and bring understanding, insight and meaning to the world we live in.

http://zahalkaworld.com.au/