ZACHARY O'DONNELL
Language: Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi)
Community: Adelaide SA / Tennant Creek NT
“My spirit will live within my works, I want to teach and share to acknowledge the ancestors and pass our stories down to the younger ones.”
Zachary O'Donnell is a Gamilaraay artist, living and practising on Kaurna land (Adelaide), South Australia.
In 2019, Zachary was accepted into the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program and travelled from his remote community in the Northern Territory to Adelaide for his schooling. He began his artistic journey in 2020, after being inspired by the other Indigenous student artists work he’d seen at school. “I remember walking around the gallery, seeing all the older mob’s work, what they were doing at their tables. Their artworks were really good. I wanted to do what they did, so I started teaching myself and working with my art teachers.”
Zachary creates contemporary artworks that portray the stories of his people. By using an array of mediums including: painting, weaving, and digital designing, he is able to blend traditional knowledge with modern techniques to create his own style. By producing artwork, Zachary is able to further develop his understanding of the older stories and through visual representation, share them with others.
Zachary draws his inspiration from his experiences and his desire to learn more about his cultural history. As he grew up displaced, he has had to adapt his style to represent his story creating a blend between traditional ideologies and contemporary styles. “I think for me, my connection to art is different. Its more of a longing or a revival of culture. I look at the older people who weren’t aloud to share their language or stories, they couldn’t pass down their knowledge. I want to speak for them, I will create for those who couldn’t. My spirit will live within my works, I want to teach and share to acknowledge the ancestors and pass our stories down to the younger ones.”
Zachary was awarded the Our Young Mob Art Prize for 2022 with his feathered basket and ‘The Morning-Star and His Son’s’ painting. He was also recognised within his school community, winning the Senior School Art Award. Zachary is currently completing Yr 12, studying Visual Arts and Design and working on developing his body of work as an emerging artist.
