Meet MECCA’s 2025 Holiday Artist, Karen Black

Every year, there’s one telltale sign the festive season has begun – MECCA’s limited-edition Holiday bags have arrived. Spotted in hands, under trees and all over your feed, they’re filled with beauty to love and joy-sparking artwork you’ll want to keep forever. For our 2025 Holiday campaign, we have partnered with Brisbane-born, Sydney-based artist Karen Black to bring ‘Beauty All Around’ – inside, outwards, upside down! 

With freedom in the abstract, emotion in her palette and self-reflection in her portraiture, Black reframes the female experience in every line, drip and stroke, painting women in action, in power, out in the world, and turning her work upside down and herself inside out in the process, she tells us. “Turning yourself upside down. It's kind of how I work with the paintings. I have them upside down on the wall and make the drips. It's sort of like that you can be anything. You can be anybody. You can do anything. And that's how I treat the paintings.” 

Through bold colour, rich symbolism, abstract (self) portraiture and emotionally layered storytelling, Karen invites us to look beneath the surface – to find the joy, power and complexity of the female experience. “I’ve come to these themes because I’m a woman and I’ve lived a life,” Black explains. “Things have changed for women — but not enough — so I’m painting those stories to stay in motion and keep going.” 

As a champion for women in the arts, Karen aligns beautifully with MECCA’s mission to support female creators. Together, we’ve created a season where gifting becomes an artform – and every gift is a masterpiece in the making. “My experience as a female artist is that it’s been really hard work. There’s still huge gender disparity in the art world. I want to see women doing well in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s — not just celebrated once or twice, but sustained,” shares Black.  

And as part of MECCA’s ongoing commitment to support women in the arts, this year and every year, MECCA has proudly funded a Karen Black acquisition for the NGV’s permanent collection – if you’re in Melbourne, you’ll be able to see her work up-close at NGV International just around the corner. But for now, from every corner of our store to every gift that walks out the door, you can discover the beauty of Black’s limited-edition Holiday artwork all around this season.