Artist Talk: Lara Chamas

Join artist Lara Chamas as she discusses her current exhibition The entrance to Paradise lies at your mother's hands, elaborates on her creative process, and reflects on the project's relevance to her broader practice and the transmission of inter-generational love
and trauma.

Lara Chamas is a first-generation Australian-Lebanese artist, based in Melbourne. Her practice investigates topics of postcolonial and migrant narratives, specifically within the context of her cultural identity. Fleeing from civil war, her parents migrated to Australia, where she was born. Her practice explores this in relation to contemporary Australian and global society, and current political issues, such as; colonialism, refugees, racism, otherness, stigma, language, Islamophobia, terrorism and power relations within society. Currently completing a Masters by research in fine art at Monash University, central to her research is the expansion on these notions in a more historical and anthropological sense. With discussing geopolitical issues, research and first-hand experience is important to the genuinity of her work. Middle Eastern historical and cultural comparatives provide a surprising amount of relativity and perspective into contemporary Australian culture as experienced by the artist.