Artbank Staff Profile: Sophie Moshakis

Name: Sophie Moshakis

Job Title: Art Consultant 

What year did you join the Artbank team: 2019

Describe your role and what you enjoy about working for Artbank:

Artbank is a one of kind program that allows the public to have an intimate relationship with works of Australian art outside the museum or gallery setting. The role of the Art Consultant is to facilitate this connection with the collection and provide a unique experience for each client. The 11,000 works that form the Artbank collection chronicles 40 years of Australian art and culture. Working with clients in this context to select works that enlivens their space is truly wonderful. That is what I love about the role! 

Select an Artwork to represent you:

#14361, Katthy Cavaliere, nest 2, 2010, Type C photograph.

Short explanation of your artwork selection:

Katthy Cavaliere was an important Australian artist who is now remembered through the Suspended Moment: The Katthy Cavaliere Fellowship established by her estate in 2018 for female artists. 

Katthy's work was a lifelong project that explored her experience with migration, belonging, and how her material things embodied these memories and experiences. 'nest 2' is part of a series that both unpacks her grief from her mother’s passing and memorialises her memory. I feel deeply connected to the familial themes in this work, and the concept of pursuing a lifelong project of understanding how we associate with our sense of belonging. Her continual process of packing and unpacking enables her to move through stages in her life and evaluate what is important as time passes. 

In contemplating longing, 'nest 2' also shows us a sense of hope. Her gaze over the horizon eludes to endless possibilities for the future.