Marina Pliatsikas, Robina at Home (PORTRAIT 2023)

Robina Beard OAM has been a much-loved fixture of the Australian arts and entertainment industry for almost seven decades. With a career spanning theatre, dance, comedy, and commercial television, she’s still recognised by many as ‘Madge the Manicurist’ from Palmolive’s now-iconic dishwashing ads which ran throughout the ’60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. At 84 years old, Robina still teaches dance classes three times a week, attends auditions and castings, and recently completed a solo cabaret show on Sydney's Oxford Street. She received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2011 for ‘Services to the Theatre, particularly in Dance’. I was lucky enough to strike up a friendship with Robina back in 2015 over our shared love of the arts, and we still meet regularly to discuss our favourite live performances we’ve seen lately. I captured these portraits of her during one such recent catchup at her home, where we shared coffees and fruitcake and dug through her extensive collection of sequinned garments in her wardrobe.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.