For Blue Mountains-based artist Anna Di Mezza, darkness and domesticity are natural bedfellows. Her paintings take us to the surreal underside of picket-fence perfection, from the body bag being cheerfully loaded into the boot of a 1950s family car to the terrified face visible inside a washing machine overseen by a serene housewife. In Di Mezza’s food paintings, cuts of raw meat unsettle tranquil scenes of mid-century living, becoming grisly stand-ins for everyday goods such as groceries, toys and cakes. Di Mezza’s subjects seem sweetly unfazed by their strange surrounds – but for viewers, the sense of unease lingers long after our eyes have left the canvas.

CARODY CULVER: May I ask about your background as an artist? When did you begin to paint, and what artistic influences have shaped the style that defines your work today?