Portrait of Vali Myers, by Norman Ikin, c 1949, gelatin silver photograph, State Library Victoria, gift of Michael Shmith, 2000

Vali Myers was an artist and dancer who lived life true to herself. In 1949, at age 19, she left Melbourne to forge a career as a modern dancer in Paris. Unable to find work, she barely survived, living on the streets and dancing for tips. She left Paris and settled in the remote Italian valley of Il Porto, which became her home and studio for the next four decades. Myers would regularly travel to Amsterdam or New York to show and sell her meticulously detailed drawings. With distinctive Dali-esque facial tattoos and often based at New York’s famously bohemian Chelsea Hotel, she was feted by the rich and famous of the art and music worlds.