In a Room is a conversation series where we ask our friends to share their favourite domestic spaces. For this edition, we’re joined by visual artist Michael Fikaris.
Michael Fikaris is an Australian artist of Greek-Ukrainian heritage, based in Naarm/Melbourne. His multidisciplinary practice spans comics, illustration, printmaking, painting, installation, and publishing. He founded Silent Army, a platform for collaborative publishing and creative engagement, and his work has been shown in exhibitions such as Endless Drawing and held in collections including the National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia. 
In this edition, Michael invites us into the rooms where ideas and rest converge: his home study, the living room with records and slower pace, the childhood sewing room, and the residencies and independent libraries he’s drawn to. His reflections trace how memory, sound, books, conversation, and creative rituals animate the places we inhabit.
Michael Fikaris
Which room are you in today?
My tiny home study, where I answer emails and enjoy my time with printed matter collected over the years. It's my brain centre here with lamps and corners for reading and writing.
Which room is the heart of your home?
The living room. There is digital minimalism with records and a cassette deck to slow down and keep the pace more sentient. It's the beating heart here. It's where we entertain friends and relax, speak easy. Our home is a brick workers cottage, where the central living room is the largest space, so it's where we mostly congregate..
Is there a room from your past that has stayed with you?
My grandmother, who I spent a lot of my youth with, had a sewing room that I loved to be in with her. She would work away on hand made things of various dimensions while music played in the background. I was allowed to look through all the patterns and fabrics and various little boxes filled with interesting things. Something I still do today, in a way, in my own home.
What makes a room feel like home and not just a space?
Conversation. Bookshelves. Smells and sounds.
Selected works by Michael Fikaris
What sort of rooms do you try and avoid?
Rooms full of advertising executives! Really though, all we have is each other. Do whatever you can in life to be with kind people. Regardless of the space. I can live anywhere if I have a friend nearby.
Is there a kind of room you’re always drawn to?
Residencies. Independent libraries. Long term studio setups where new work is being created and there is a vernacular of creative activity. Some favourites I've worked with over the years include Le Dernier Cri in Marseille, Krack! Studio in Yogyakarta and the one I'm in at the moment, Everfresh in Naarm/Melbourne.
What is your all time favourite room?
Silent Army Storeroom! We're open every Friday 2-7pm during October 2025 to March 2026 at Everfresh Studio.
Come and have a look!
