Founded in 1977 by Rabbi Ronald Lubofsky, the Jewish Museum of Australia: Gandel Centre of Judaica stands as a place of introspection of art and Jewish culture. This December, the Jewish Museum of Australia is collaborating with William Mora Galleries to celebrate the life and works of one of Melbourne’s most celebrated artists— the late Mirka Mora (1928–2018).
MIRKA will be the largest survey of her 70-year-long career ever shown and will dive into the rich journey of her life. The exhibition celebrates the mischievous and bohemian spirit that Mora was known for, utilising her collections of letters, sketchbooks and diaries, as well as a recorded interview from the Jewish Holocaust Centre archives in the most personal insight into her life the world has seen yet.
“Beloved and remembered as much for her extraordinary career and contribution to cosmopolitan Melbourne as for her remarkable joie de vivre, Mirka gifts each of us the magic of hope and resilience. We’re privileged to tell her story in this expanded and deeply personal way,” says Jessica Bram, Director of the Museum.
The exhibition tells the tale of Mora as a young girl, starting with her childhood in Paris and her family’s fight for survival during the Nazi occupation of France, and taking us all the way through to her migration to Australia. Upon her arrival in 1947, she burst onto the art scene with the opening of her café in Exhibition Street and the Tolarno Galleries which paved the way for Commercial Galleries in Australia.
Her skills spanned through an extensive array of techniques, including drawing, painting, embroidery, soft sculpture, mosaics and doll making, as well as having written and published two non-fiction pieces of literature in the early 2000s. As the first artist to paint an Art Tram in 1978, her artwork has gone on to be celebrated all over the city, including the Flinders Street Station mural and St.Kilda pier. Keep your eye out for the ticket release later in 2020 here.
Get your culture fix at Destiny Deacon retrospective exhibition here.
Image credit: supplied