Mirka Mora 'Portrait in Chiaroscuro' mixed media The dunes and pyramids in

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

with trees wilting over the glass-like water

The use of charcoal creates drama

cyanotype on paper

Russian Constructivism

Mirka Mora 'Portrait in Chiaroscuro' mixed media The dunes and pyramids inThe 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