Mikala Dwyer

Overview

If you haven’t heard of Mikala Dwyer now, don’t worry, there is still time. The Sydney artist has been around for quite some time now, impressing audiences in the 90s with her exuberant installations and provocative contexts – ranging from the amateur to the infantile and feminine.

She has also had a residency at her hometown’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2000, and since then, her art has broken off from its initially pure path and has moved into stranger territory, namely the paranormal and the occult. In Drawing Down The Moon, we see black magic become her niche, as she has included spiritually and emotionally demanding elements to her art: séances, candles, Ouija boards, as well as clairvoyants and crystal therapy. You can also expect her collaboration with neodadaist Justene Williams to channel spirits of female convicts of yesteryear to be particularly eerie, and like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

This striking reversal of interest displayed through her art has made Mikala’s installations all the more intriguing. It may seem as if the infantile, angelic past she had is repressed, but in her most recent work, it is a haunting backbone and a must see.