Zaachariaha Fielding wins the Wynne Prize 2023

Photo: Axel Ritenis

First-time Wynne Prize finalist Zaachariaha Fielding has won the Wynne Prize 2023 for his painting Inma, which depicts the sounds of Mimili, a small community in the eastern part of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia.

Fielding was ecstatic when Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand delivered the news that Inma won this year’s Wynne Prize. Fielding said: ‘I feel like dancing right now. The work is music, and I am music. My work is a celebration and is a song in itself and the sound comes from my community.

‘I am going to write an amazing song about this experience. My heart is so full. I can’t wait to tell my family. This is a memory that I was able to document which happened in Paralpi. It’s a place that’s like the Sydney Opera House for the APY Lands! It’s where people come to embrace and celebrate children, teaching them how to move and mimic their clan emblem, and, for Mimili, this has always been the maku (witchetty grub).

‘The atmosphere of this work is full of sound, movement and teaching. All of the communities are coming together, sharing their storylines. However, this platform is only for children. This is for the babies and it’s about them being taught by the masters, their Elders.’

Fielding presents Mimili through a childhood lens, recalling observations of inma (song and dance) and movement.

Photo: Axel Ritenis

Fielding is an interdisciplinary artist from Mimili. He literally weaves Pitjantjatjara language into this work, using the teaching between grandchildren and grandparents as a stylistic element to outline and define his view of Country. As lead vocalist of Electric Fields, Fielding co-writes with producer Michael Ross, merging neo-soul-pop with ancient culture. Singing in Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and English, the duo has received 22 awards over the past six years. Fielding is also a sitter in the Archibald Prize 2023, in a portrait by Michael Simms.

The Wynne Prize is Australia’s oldest art prize and is awarded annually for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists.