The Artistic Practice of Moya Mckenna

Born in Guildford, UK, in 1973, Moya Mckenna has spent much of her creative life navigating the distance between the studio and the lived experience. Now based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, her practice is a deeply personal inquiry into the way emotional states manifest in physical space. She does not merely observe the world; she reconstructs it within the controlled confines of her studio to articulate internal landscapes.

Her method relies on the careful arrangement of elaborate tableaux. Using a limited number of props, she builds specific, often quiet, scenes that serve as the foundation for her visual investigations. This process is multidisciplinary, moving fluidly between easel painting, photography, collage, and moving image. By translating these staged moments into different media, she explores how a single arrangement of objects can shift in meaning through different lenses.

The work often begins with a sculptural or physical assemblage. These arrangements are not static; they are starting points for a broader exploration of form and feeling. Through this studio-based approach, Mckenna bridges the gap between the tangible objects she handles and the intangible emotions she seeks to capture.

Technique and Visual Style

Mckenna’s approach to the canvas is rooted in the physical arrangement of the immediate. She constructs elaborate tableaus within her studio, utilizing materials and props gathered at hand to form the basis of her compositions. While her earlier works pursued a relatively literal mode of translation, moving from sculptural assemblage to the painted image, her style has evolved toward a more organic and imaginative response. In these later compositions, the distinction between figure and ground often blurs, allowing identifiable subjects to jostle with more ambiguous, fluid forms.

There is a palpable sense of momentum in her paintings, a quality derived from a disciplined, wet-on-wet technique. She works at pace, refusing to allow one layer of paint to dry before the next is applied. This rapid execution brings a gestural sensibility to the realist tradition of still life, injecting a sense of energy into the quietude of her subjects. The resulting images possess a tension between the controlled arrangement of the studio and the spontaneous movement of the brush.

Key Works and Awards

McKenna’s recognition within the Australian art community is marked by significant accolades that highlight her ability to command attention through complex compositions. In 2018, her work Boombox was named the winner of the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize. This achievement underscored a practice that successfully translates staged, studio-based arrangements into a singular visual language.

Her earlier explorations into the still life tradition are exemplified by the 2008 oil on linen painting, Milk. In this work, the boundaries between figure and ground become difficult to distinguish, creating a sense of movement within the frame. The composition relies on a collection of specific, identifiable subjects—including a pot plant and model elephants—that jostle against more ambiguous forms. This tension between the recognizable and the abstract defines much of her painterly output.

• Boombox (2018)
• Milk (2008)

Exhibition History and Recognition

Mckenna’s presence in the Australian art scene has been marked by consistent inclusion in significant institutional exhibitions. Her work was featured in the Matisse Alive exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales between October 2021 and April 2022. This followed her participation in the Animal Instincts exhibition at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, which ran from November 2022 to March 2023. These appearances reflect a career that has moved steadily through the country's most respected galleries.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, recognized her practice in 2020 through the MCA Primavera Acquisitions. This selection placed her work within a broader dialogue of contemporary Australian practice. Earlier in her career, her paintings were part of the Rimbaud / Rambo exhibition held at Neon Parc in Melbourne during late 2008. Such milestones trace a trajectory of professional validation that spans over a decade of studio practice.

• Boombox (2018) – Winner of the 2018 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize

Where to See the Works Today

The physical presence of McKenna’s practice is distributed across several significant institutional collections in Australia. In Sydney, her 2008 painting Milk is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This work, an oil on linen, demonstrates the gestural sensibility that characterizes her approach to the realist tradition. Her presence in the country's major galleries is further cemented by works held within the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

In Melbourne, her output is represented in several key repositories. The Ian Potter Museum of Art maintains works from her practice, as does the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. These collections provide a way to observe the evolution of her studio-based methods, from her earlier literal translations of sculptural assemblages to the more organic, wet-on-wet responses seen in her later compositions.