Rhonda Diakomichalis was born in Tallangatta, Victoria, Australia in 1947. Spending much of her youth in rural Victoria, Rhonda grew up on the family property in Katunga before moving with her mother and father, sister and two brothers into nearby Numurkah in time to complete secondary schooling. It was at this level of education and maturity that Rhonda discovered a passion for art, although her endeavours in this field were seldom encouraged.
Upon completion of high school in her late teens, Rhonda commenced training to become a registered nurse/midwife, while also undertaking a commercial art course by correspondence. Subsequently, whilst working as a midwife in Alice Springs for 3 months, Rhonda also spent a great deal of her spare time in the hospital, drawing portraits of the beautiful Aboriginal children admitted to the hospital. It was this practice that initially led Rhonda to develop an interest in portraiture and notions of the individual.
After years of casually developing her passion for art, 1988 presented Rhonda with her first solo exhibition, providing a new confidence and encouraging her to practice and study with a more professional attitude. After five years of combining work, intensive study and thorough experimentation, Rhonda emerged in 2002 from the Adelaide Central School of Art, having graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in painting and printmaking.
For years Rhonda has mingled artistic output with family commitments and occupation as a nurse and midwife. Additionally, throughout the 1990s Rhonda (with husband Emmanuel) operated a highly successful leadlight design practice, and they now together operate a successful printmaking equipment manufacturing business.
Personal life and experience have always played an important role in influencing Rhonda's art. Her work is about people, about the stories they tell, about herself and about life today, with implied collisions of the past and present. The majority of Rhonda's work explores interpretations of the individual, in an abstracted yet portrait oriented manner.
Today, Rhonda paints mainly with oils, and prints with linocuts, etchings and drypoint plates.