Magnificent Vali Myers
Image of the magnificent Vali Myers
Today is the anniversary of the passing in 2003 of one of the most magnificent creatures, the shamaness and Australian artist Vali Myers.
Vali was a unique spirit and truly lived her life as a Bohemian. Eccletic, unusual & highly original, Vali embodied her craft. Artist, dancer, witch, muse and powerful creatrix, Vali's legacy is a body of work that began with her early drawings in the cafes of Paris in the 50s where she lived as a gypsy and continued through her incredibly detailed work created in her valley home in the depths of Positano that she shared with her lover and a multitude of beloved wild animal friends until her death in 2003 in Melbourne.
Her life was nothing short of extraordinary and she is a particular inspiration for this little Bohemian, touching all whose life she inhabited with a rare magic as she lived her life exclusively on her terms. She has been described as "a tightrope walker - one foot in this world and one in a dreamworld that we can only glimpse in her profound artwork".
A beautiful book, Night Flower was released by Outre Gallery and the Vali Myers Art Gallery Trust, describing her as "the queen of bohemia even if most Australians still don’t know it. Friend to Cocteau and Genet, written about by Tennessee Williams, praised by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and inspiration to Patti Smith, Deborah Harry and Marianne Faithful – the rest of the world has already paid homage to the legend of artist, Vali Myers. From vagabond to bohemian royalty, Vali’s story is one of the true outsider". This book includes many of her work and images from her elaborate and beautiful diaries, a window into her enchanted world.
Vali wrote "dedicated to all the golden bees and foxies of this world, to the four winds and the seven seas, written by a little wallaby who was told by her mother to catch all her tears in a matchbox and they would turn to jewels."
If you are not acquainted with the magic of Vali, may I recommend you take the time to lose yourself every so often in her life and her work, Bohemians. I will be lighting a candle and raising a glass to Vali this eve, magical muse.