Norman Ikin, Portrait of Vali Myers, c 1949, gift of Michael Shmith, 2000.

This shot of Vali Myers was taken by Norman Ikin in Wolfgang Sievers’ studio, just before she left Melbourne. At age 19 Myers moved to Paris, where she worked as a dancer and artist and befriended writers like Jean Cocteau and Jean Genet. After living in Italy and New York, Myers returned to Melbourne for the last decade of her life.