Vivian Mepham

Hollywood has always been the epicentre of the filmmaking world. Over the years though Australia's influence on the industry has continued to grow, so much so that many Hollywood films & production companies are now setting up shop down under. One person who has witnessed this revolution is makeup artist Vivian Mepham, who has worked on a number of famous productions - the most notable of which being Mad Max.

In January Vivian & many other Australian's, such as Baz Luhrmann, George Miller, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett & Margot Robbie will be celebrated with a very special exhibition at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) in Canberra. The Australians & Hollywood: A Tale of Craft, Talent, & Ambition exhibition will be a world premiere which celebrates Australia’s film making success & the extraordinary creatives behind the scenes who have taken our country to new heights in the world of film.

Whilst speaking to Pario prior to the opening of the exhibition Vivian said she never expected to have any of her worked showcased in a museum exhibition like this one. Although she is very grateful & excited for the opportunity because otherwise much or the memorabilia she had collected throughout the years could have been lost to the world.

"I sent a lot of stuff to the archives because I thought 'why am I keeping it, it will just go out into the rubbish when I'm gone'" explained Vivian.

One of the showcase pieces included in the exhibition will be Vivian's makeup box from Mad Max (pictured above). "The makeup box has so many different kinds & colours of blood. You need all of those for the 'art' of making a cut or bruise look realistic on screen," recalled Vivian before adding, "I was flat out making blood out of old bits of this & that."

Reminiscing further about her experiences on Mad Max said "we had no idea Mad Max was going to be so big... We had so little money but we came up with this madness that worked... it all seemed outrageous [at the time] but looking at it now it really wasn't that outrageous."

The Mad Max film series will screen at the National Film & Sound Archive during the opening weekend of the Australians & Hollywood Exhibition - running from January 21 until July 17 

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