The conservation of three painted soft sculptures by Mirka Mora *

Three case studies of the conservation of painted soft sculptures by French-Australian artist Mirka Mora (1928–2018) explore different physical states, different contexts of ownership and different treatment goals. For the same type of object, three different outcomes – interventive treatment, no treatment and preventive treatment – were reached through a rigorous decision-making process, considering significance and access in all cases. All three were sanctioned by the artist, showing that a variety of approaches is possible if it is well supported by reasoning. The process included making replicas to test treatments and proposing storage and display methods to mitigate the risks of damage identified by research. Overall, these case studies illustrate the importance of including the meanings and social role of the works into the process of decision making, facilitating renewed interactions with the public for these fragile works of art.