About
Martha Lord is a Melbourne based artist and designer who has exhibited nationally and internationally for the past two decades. Her work is a play between abstraction and realism, where connections with mythology emerge. It allows for a dream, a reality or a paradoxical combination of both.
CV - Curriculum vitae of artist Martha Lord
My work is strongly influenced by Greek mythology, as my parents would relay stories to me while growing up as a second-generation Greek-Australian. I also draw heavily upon Eastern philosophies and culture as I have practiced martial arts for many years, with works in these series paying homage to the antique emperor and empress portraits of the past. The works that I create are an interpretation of how mythological and historical figures would be if they existed today, in the now.
When creating the gods and warriors in my portraits, I tend to work instinctively and let my subconscious play. Knowing intuitively what figure I would like to take shape in my work, images are built by piecing together fragments of bodies photographed from magazines. For example, I will use the eyes from one image, a mouth from another, the body from another and so on. This is achieved using photography and photoshop, taking many hours of digital drawing and editing. Once I am satisfied with the image created, I have it printed on canvas or board, and from there start to paint over, adding texture, colour, and different mediums. The end result is a mixed-media combination of digital photography and painting which, through many layers, acts as a portrayal of the figures' power, strength, and immortality, and a celebration of the feminine, masculine, and everything in between.
I acknowledge that I live and work on the lands of the Wurundjeri people who have been custodians of this land for thousands of years. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.