Anne Zahalka Limited edition print 'The Bondi Bathers', 2026.

Created especially for ZAHALKAWORLD: An Artist’s Archive at the Jewish Museum of Australia, this new work revisits Anne Zahalka’s iconic The Bathers (1989).

In this 2026 revisiting of the work, The Bondi Bathers, Zahalka has incorporated the original Hakoah emblem, inspired by a badge worn by her mother, Hedy, as a swimmer for the Hakoah Club in Vienna during the 1930s. The Hakoah symbol meaning “the strength” acknowledges Jewish identity, resilience and community, while connecting personal family history with one of Australia’s most recognisable cultural landscapes.

Released in conjunction with the exhibition, this exclusive print is available in a strictly limited edition of 20 prints only.
Each print is signed and numbered by the artist.

Proceeds from each sale are shared equally between the artist and the Jewish Museum of Australia, supporting the museum’s exhibitions, programs and collections.

This limited edition print is sold unframed and is only available for pick up in store. If you would like assistance with framing, please contact us via the email address below and our team will be happy to help. Additionally, If you would like to discuss alternative delivery options please email the below address. 

info@jewishmuseum.com.au

Artist Statement: 

‘The Bondi Bathers’, 2026.

In 1989 I invited a group of friends, lovers, colleagues, students and their nieces and nephews to the Bondi Pavilion to reenact the celebrated Charles Meere neo-classical style painting Australian Beach Pattern (1940) with an alternative group of Anglo-Celtic-European Australians. The main figure holding the beach ball was chosen for her strong athletic physique and mixed ethnicity. She occupies the space held by Meere’s absurdly idealised woman in his painting, a parody of the eugenics and propaganda imagery that was coming out of Nazi Germany at the time. Like many, I thought Meere was projecting an Aryan view of the nation. In fact, he was sending a warning. I’d chosen my central female figure because she was a recent migrant to Sydney of Jewish heritage. 

In this 2026 iteration, I have incorporated a Hakoah emblem on her hip (where a sports logo like Speedo might go) to make her Jewish identity visible. Hakoah is Hebrew for 
“the strength”; it evokes Jewish athleticism and resilience. Enclosing these words is the Star of David, one of the most recognised symbols of the Jewish people, it is embedded with layered meanings of the unity of opposites, as well as strength and spiritual protection.  

The Hakoah badge is based on one my mother Hedy wore in the mid-1930s as an accomplished swimmer for the Hakoah Club in Vienna, its original home and the city in which she grew up. The story of Hakoah’s women swimmers is one of courage, friendship and resilience. Among them was Lucie Goldner, one of my mother’s closest friends. As members of the Hakoah Club in Vienna, several swimmers refused to represent Austria at the 1936 Olympic Games in protest against the treatment of Jews. The Hakoah Club in Sydney later became a place my mother loved to play bridge and was her cultural home.

This revision of my original Bathers came from a desire to recognise Jewish identity within my most iconic images and to acknowledge the community in Bondi following the tragedy that took place there on 14th December 2025. It also serves as a reminder of our strength when we come together.  

Anne Zahalka