Twenty-seven-year-old Lyra's exhibition, Status Anxiety, examines traditional subservient roles of women in the house.

Her large-format photos show a model doing household duties - such as ironing, cleaning windows, cooking or pouring tea - but with a twist.

"They are a comment on how aspirational images in fashion magazines can cause anxieties in women when they look at them," she said.

"It's a play on the angles and the images are different. Instead of standing at the bench pouring the tea, she's taking charge by standing on the bench."

Lyra hopes the exhibition will encourage women to question fashion images.

"I want women to have a closer look at themselves and at their own ideals and perceptions of what they should be doing, not what magazines are telling you to do.

"I want people to ask themselves why they want to have the look of the latest model. Is it because the magazine is telling you to do it or do you honestly believe yourself that this is the perfect life?"

Lyra is studying for a masters of art (photomedia) at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney.

She started her photographic training in the darkroom when she was 16 and took two "excellence in media" awards during her VCE studies at Glen Waverley Secondary College.

Status Anxiety is on display until April 11 at Monash Gallery of Art, 860 Ferntree Gully Road, Wheelers Hill. Details: 95621569.