Mirka Mora 'Portrait in Chiaroscuro' mixed media In this sketch of Barbara

In this sketch of Barbara

The dunes and pyramids in the background are a reference the Suez Canal which many of the immigrants had to cross on their way to Australia prior to the wide-spread popularity and affordability of air travel

it also represented his attitude at large

Aboriginal concepts of place and his own memories — creating striking impressions of the landscape and its inhabitants that linger long after first encountering them

with trees wilting over the glass-like water

Mirka Mora 'Portrait in Chiaroscuro' mixed media In this sketch of BarbaraThe visual world of Mirka Mora, matriarch of the Melbourne art scene, was fantastical. Creatures human, animal and hybrid dance throughout, inspired by Eastern European fairy tales, angels and ancient mythology, as well as Moras own fecund imagination an act of resilience in light of her familys plight during the Second World War. She spent her adolescence hiding between French villages and forests evading capture; her immediate family were condemned