Monash Gallery of Art is pleased to present Status Anxiety,
an exhibition by Lyra.

This exhibition explores society’s pressures on women to conform to ideals as presented by the glossy images of fashion magazines and advertising. A series of photographs featuring a Stepford Wife-like model at first glance appear to be from a high fashion magazine, but a closer inspection reveals domestic life turned literally upside down - as if gravity has been suspended, her internal anxiety projected onto her surroundings. The exhibition also includes a supplementary series of unique hand-assembled layered photographs, bringing these images of the ‘everyday’ to the third dimension.

With a background in film, video and fine arts, Lyra continues to capture her love of fashion, music and travel via the lens. Starting her photographic training in a darkroom at age 16, she progressed into moving pictures and received her high school’s Academic Excellence in Media Award at VCE (HSC) level for both consecutive years. Her graduation music video was subsequently chosen and screened at the Melbourne Museum as part of the 2001 TOP DESIGNS Season of Excellence exhibition. She then completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts, majoring in film, from the University of Melbourne in 2003. Relocating to Sydney in 2005 where she is now based, Lyra is currently studying for a Masters of Art (Photomedia) at COFA.

Having participated in several group shows over the years, Status Anxiety at MGA is Lyra’s debut solo exhibition. It is especially poignant returning to Melbourne to unveil these new works, as the City of Monash is the neighbourhood where she grew up attending Mount Waverley Primary School and Glen Waverley Secondary
College.