Cacatu Galerita Painting

Monika Diak is currently completing her Honours in Painting, Fine Arts at the Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. Previously graduating with a BFA from the National Art School in 2007, majoring in Copperplate Intaglio Etching. Shortly after, Monika partook in several International Art Residencies in Europe between 2011 and 2013, concluding in the conception of a significant body of work created during her residency stays, and presented her first and second Solo Shows. During her time in Europe she undertook a critical reading of local traditional mythology and folklore, providing her own reflection of the themes contained within the individual tales. She returned to Australia in 2014, after building upon the series for over three years abroad. She was an AIR short stay artist in Kyoto, Japan in 2016, at Art Space Yosuga, conducting preliminary research for a series of artworks she would steadily work on for the next few years. She returned to Japan to host her first Solo Show in Tokyo in 2019, and is working on a follow-up Solo Show set for 2020. She is currently based in The Blue Mountains, where she researches the connection between folktales, myths and superstitions, with the depths of our psyche, to feed her often eery, ghostly paintings.