An evocative new exhibition bringing together painting, photography and poetry will open at Port Melbourne Library Art Space on Thursday, 19 March 2026 at 5.30pm, presenting a deeply personal artistic dialogue between sisters Christella and Andrea Demetriou.
The opening will feature a keynote address by Nikolaos Varellas, Deputy High Commissioner of Cyprus, and remarks by Alex Makin, Mayor of the City of Port Phillip. Poet Andrea Demetriou will also present readings from her work, including pieces from The Inconsolable Clock.
The exhibition will run daily until 29 March 2026 during library hours.
Through paintings, photographs and poems, the exhibition traces the lives of two sisters raised in Port Melbourne within a precarious migrant and refugee family, exploring themes of survival, sisterhood and artistic expression. Set against the familiar backdrop of Port Melbourne’s coastline, the works reveal how beauty and creativity can emerge from personal hardship and loss.
Christella’s paintings in the exhibition reflect themes of erotic and sisterly love, censorship of personal and political expression, existential isolation and the absence of compassion in a human desert. Her work is also shaped by the trauma surrounding her father’s death and her own battle with cancer.
Art historian and critic Dr Dora Rogan, Officier des Arts et Lettres, writes: “Through her recent art and particularly her series Atopos*, meaning ‘without place’, Christella has reached the peak of her artistic practice. Her spirit translates into tangible work, conveying intangible metaphysical visions.”
Reflecting on her sister’s legacy, Andrea Demetriou writes: “Every time I revisit my sister’s works I encounter a form of magic. In pieces such as Ladder to the Sky or Yellow Vertebra, even the traces of cancer on her bones are transformed into something beautiful.”
The photographic works of St Kilda, Port Melbourne and Albert Park Beach capture the sisters’ deep connection to the sea — a place they saw as their true home. In a past interview with The Age, Andrea reflected on this bond, saying: “Port Melbourne by the water forever.”
Australian artist Tony Oliver, a prominent figure in the Aboriginal art world, has described Andrea’s photography as deeply romantic:“I like the tension between something conventional and something mysterious in the images — something like Monet and something like Rothko.”
Many of the poems in the exhibition reflect the sisters’ profound love for their father, from whom they inherited their artistic sensibility. His sudden death profoundly shaped the family’s story and the creative journey that followed.
The exhibition’s title refers to the theft of the sisters’ personal belongings, artworks and books by other family members — a loss that, as the artists suggest, could not steal their spirit or creative voice.
The exhibition is proudly supported by the City of Port Phillip.
Event Details
- Opening: Thursday, 19 March 2026, 5.30pm
- Venue: Port Melbourne Library Art Space, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
- Exhibition dates: 19–29 March 2026
- Open daily during library hours.
