Now in its 15th year, the Antipodean Palette exhibition returns with a diverse collective of 17 artists from Australia and New Zealand, each with a Greek heritage or connection.
The exhibition will launch June 14 -2.00pm at Steps Gallery, Lygon St., Carlton.
It showcases works across painting, sculpture, and photography, the exhibition reflects a maturing diaspora voice with no fixed theme—only a celebration of individual expression.
“This year, we have allowed the artists to showcase their works,” said Despina Lykopandis, one of the organisers, speaking to Neos Kosmos. “We have ended up with an eclectic and deep presentation of subject matter as well as media.”
An exhibition without borders—In age, style or medium
Ranging in age from their mid-20s to their 70s, the exhibiting artists are all professionals, not hobbyists. “We offer the artist an opportunity to sell their work,” said Lykopandis.
The freedom from curatorial themes has led to surprising intersections: from eggshell sculpture to overexposed neon photography printed on linen, and even photo series drawing inspiration from Gen X humour à la Sooshi Mango.
Despite the open brief, two natural undercurrents emerged—reflection and modernism. The curatorial team focused on “principles and elements of design… along with diversity in material and medium,” Lykopandis added.
Ordinary lives, extraordinary stories
One of the participating artists, Darwin-based arts consultant and artist, Rita Macarounas, explores “the intersection of identity, place, and memory.”
Her pop-art-inspired photographs on linen capture new Australians in moments of transition—waiting at a bus stop, walking home, navigating urban life.
“These ordinary yet profound interactions… reveal the essence of their experiences as they create new memories in a new land,” Macarounas said. Her vivid, graphic works “celebrate the multifaceted journeys of people from diverse cultural backgrounds… inviting viewers to witness both the internal and external worlds of these new Australians.”
Her goal is to give voice and visibility to stories often overlooked.
Eggshells as metaphor for fragility and memory
Melbourne artist Victoria Floratos brings intimacy and symbolism with her delicate work using eggshells. “We live in a world of consumerism, and I wanted to show… we don’t need to throw away everything we use,” she said. For Floratos, eggshells are a metaphor for fragility and transformation.
“If the egg is broken from the inside, life begins. If broken from the outside, a life ends,” she reflected.
Floratos’s work, inspired by 1960s Greek migrants, features black-and-white photos printed on rice paper—images of weddings, farewells, and first steps in a new land—each encased in an eggshell.
“These delicate vessels… mirror the vulnerability of migration—the fear of the unknown, the ache of displacement, and the quiet resilience required to start anew,” she said. “There is something sacred in holding a fragile object that carries such emotional weight… Within each shell lives the world.”
The Antipodean Palette continues to offer a platform for Hellenic and Hellenic-inspired artists across Oceania, giving voice to stories at once deeply personal and universally resonant.
