It’s hard to fully comprehend the impact that artist Mirka Mora had on Melbourne. The French-born artist emigrated to Melbourne in 1951 following the Holocaust and quickly set about ingraining herself and her playful art within the city’s growing bohemian scene.
There have been many exhibitions on Mora, but none quite like this. The Jewish Museum of Australia has announced Mirka: the most extensive survey of Mirka Mora ever. The museum is turning into an “immersive Mirka-world” for the exhibition, which features never-before-exhibited works from the Mora family and Mirka’s studio archives.
Alongside these works, Mirka tells the artist’s story through her sketchbooks, letters, diaries and audio recordings from the Jewish Holocaust Centre’s archives. Mora and her family evaded the Nazis during World War II by hiding in French forests. The Jewish Museum of Australia planning to depict all the colours of the artist’s life from her Parisien childhood to the founding of Tolarno Galleries in Melbourne.
Mirka reopens November 7 at the Jewish Museum of Australia following Victoria's sixth lockdown. Originally due to finish in early December, the exhibition will now run until January 30 2022.
