Artist Talk with Meli Axford

Summary

Overview

Join contemporary artist Meli Axford for an intimate and deeply personal artist talk exploring creativity, identity, reinvention and the emotional journey behind her Pool Series, now in its seventh year.

Known for her vibrant figurative paintings that reimagine the Australian landscape through the lens of family, memory and the female gaze, Axford will speak candidly about her unconventional path into art - from a working-class upbringing in regional Queensland and a long career in technology, to becoming a nationally exhibited painter whose work explores love, safety, visibility and freedom for women and girls.

Part memoir, part creative reflection and part conversation about contemporary culture, this evening will move beyond the surface of the paintings to explore the psychological and emotional forces that shaped them. Axford will discuss how painting became a process of self-discovery, and how meaning in her work often emerged long after the paintings themselves were made, what she now describes as "her subconscious speaking to her through paint."