The Oxford English Dictionary defines portraiture as “a representation...of a person, especially the face...”. However, this simple explanation belies the complexities of reproducing the face.

Portraits range from the symbolic, where a likeness was not required, to images where concern with identity opens up the areas of character, personality, mood, status, costume, occupation, gender and age. We also need to consider the relationship between sitter and painter.

Portraits are quite distinct from other categories in art in the way they are made, the nature of what they represent and how they work in terms of display.
The lecture opens with Mirka and Georges’ early lives and food experiences in France, then tells the stories of their celebrated hospitality in Australia and their intermingling of food, art, love and life. The culinary journey is interspersed with fascinating anecdotes, archival photographs, Mirka’s sensuous and colourful artworks.