Electric Fields' Zaachariaha Fielding Has Won The Wynne Art Prize

Zaachariaha Fielding, the lead vocalist of modern soul and electronic duo, Electric Fields, has another prize to add to his list of awards: the prestigious Wynne Art Prize.

Fielding, a first-time finalist, won the art prize for his acrylic painting that represents the sounds of Mimili, a small community in the eastern part of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, per the Art Gallery of NSW. The stunning piece is titled Inma.

The Wynne Art Prize is given to the finest landscape painting that depicts Australian scenery or figure sculpture.

"I feel like dancing right now. The work is music, and I am music,” Fielding said upon receiving the prize from the Art Gallery of NSW Director, Michael Brand. “My work is a celebration and is a song in itself and the sound comes from my community.”

Per the National Indigenous Times, Fielding continued, "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)," Fielding added.

"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."

Yesterday, we reported that Julia Gutman’s Head in the sky feet on the ground, a portrait of Aussie singer Montaigne, took out another prestigious art prize, the Archibald.

Gutman’s piece is a work created with oil, found textiles and embroidery on canvas.

“I was really honoured to be chosen as a finalist let alone win this. I wouldn’t be making art if it wasn’t for my parents. I am very elated and clearly very elated to have won,” Gutman said, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I’m not going to break into song, but it is really surreal.”