ArtsNational 2026 lecture program ends with Lee Miller’s War

ArtsNational Narrabri has marked the last of its lectures for 2026 with a riveting presentation about the photography of Lee Miller.

The lecture, titled ‘Lee Miller’s War’, focused on Lee who is thought to have been the only woman combat photographer with the allied infantry in Europe during World War II.

Kay Durham, Julie Drake and Jenny Falkiner.

Delivering the lecture was her son, Antony Penrose, who has conserved and disseminated the work of his parents Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.

During World War II, Lee was a courageous war photographer and correspondent for Vogue magazine, whose stories and photographs have been preserved by Mr Penrose.

Joan Burrell-Melbourne, Peter Leitch and Suzie Blekemore.

This lecture presented her war photojournalism from shortly after D-Day in Normandy, through the Siege of St Malo, the liberation of Paris, fighting across Germany, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau, to the flames leaping from Hitler’s Berghof near Berchtesgaden that signalled the end of the war, and then the post-war traumas of Austria and Hungary.

Linda Meppem, Anthony Penrose and Alice Burke.

The story was told through extensive use of Lee Miller’s own words, set to her photographs.

ArtsNational has again provided the North West region with a thrilling line-up of speakers throughout the year.

Nanette Watson, Coral Marshall, John Manchee and Jocellin Jansson.

This year’s program has featured topics including great railway stations of the world, the transformation of Paris under the reign of Napoleon III, dogs in Australian art, writers and artists creating inspirational worlds, an Antarctic photographic odyssey, tracing the story of intrepid Victorian lady traveller Isabella Bird and ending with Lee Miller.

The organisation will publish its lecture program for 2027 in the new year.