You can find In Reflection: In Response in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
For SALA 2025 The Mill is excited to present In Reflection: In Response, a new group exhibition curated by Stella Martino, featuring the work of five South Australian artists; Shani Engelbrecht (textiles), Calamity Tash (textiles), Carman Skeehan (glass), Lotte Schwerdtfeger (ceramics) and Yana Lehey (sculpture). In Reflection: In Response has been developed through a collaborative, community-driven component led by Stella, who sites Ursula Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction in the conceptual underpinning of the exhibition.
For each of the artists, this exhibition has been an opportunity to come together, share ideas, collaborate, form communal bonds and develop their work. We’re excited to see artists process, both in their individual practices and in creating collaborative work, showcased together in the gallery.
‘In Reflection: In Response’ is an exploration in storytelling and community-based practices. Emerging curator Stella Martino has been developing this group exhibition featuring five South Australian artists; Shani Englebrecht (textiles), Calamity Tash (textiles), Carman Skeehan (glass), Lotte Schwerdtfeger (ceramics) and Yana Lehey (sculpture). It includes a collaborative, community-driven artist development component (I am referring to it as a ‘residency’), alongside an exhibition and public program presented during the South Australian Living Arts (SALA) Festival. In conjunction with the exhibition, a small catalogue will be created, consisting of a small curatorial essay and response to artists and their works.
Ursula Le Guin wrote an essay called The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction that challenges the idea of stories that centre one individual. Instead, Le Guin offers the viewpoint that stories are a collection of things and moments gathered over time. Le Guin uses the term ‘carrier bag’ as a figurative and literal image of how we collect things and put them in a vessel to save for a time when those things are shared amongst others. ‘In Reflection: In Response’ brings five artists into a three-month residency guided by me at The Mill, where the group will cultivate and share ideas, collaborate, form communal bonds and develop their work for the exhibition. The residency will culminate in one communal piece of work, and individual or collaborative pieces from the artists in response using their chosen medium/s. The communal piece will be a take on patchwork quilting, with each artist hand-sewing a piece of recycled, locally sourced fabric, which will be sewn together at the end of the residency. The outcome of the residency and the artists’ interactions with form will become a physical manifestation of the time we spend together, sharing our thoughts, knowledge, practice and stories: our carrier bag.
Stella Martino is an emerging curator and writer originally from Dharug/Sydney, now based in Tarndanya/Adelaide. Stella completed her Master of Arts (in Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art) from Aalto University in Finland in 2023. Since then, Stella has undertaken a curatorial internship at The Mill Adelaide under the mentorship of visual arts curator Adele Sliuzas. While studying in Finland, Stella co-curated and was a participating artist in the group exhibition Ghost Elephant Stitches in the Snow and co-created and developed the community arts and recipe book Recipes for Resilience and Care in the Climate Emergency. Stella is interested in queer ecologies and how the more-than-human interacts with their environments and in art. Her master's thesis aimed to understand how various forms of memory inform storytelling and their impact on our well-being. Through her research and previous projects, Stella also explores the benefits of community care practices within and beyond art spaces.
Shani Engelbrecht (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist of Indo-Fijian and Scottish-Irish heritage creating and living on Kaurna Land, South Australia. She holds an Honours degree in Visual Arts (2022) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts (2021) from Flinders University. Her work predominantly explores her identity and sense of belonging in the space she grew up in. Race and identity are at the core of Engelbrecht’s practice as she interrogates the incidences of racism experienced by people of colour daily. By using performance, photography, video, drawing and painting, her work blends traditional and contemporary techniques to convey the duality of her upbringing and to reflect on the feelings of otherness. Engelbrecht has shown works in multiple exhibitions including Art That Walks OFF the Walls (Goodwood Theatre & Studios 2024), Hatched: National Graduate Show Exhibition (Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 2023), not white/not brown (FELTspace 2023).
Calamity Tash, local queer Craft Wizard, believes art is for everyone and is most passionate about inclusivity and accessibility to the creative arts. Over the last decade Tash has been skill sharing with communities across the globe. The spreading of craft joy will continue as Tash becomes an enthusiastic resident at The Mill. Tash’s signature sparkle and use of whimsical dolls have been her wearable art trademark. Calamity Tash joins us on a journey of self expression and discovery. Her private studio will see the creation of many a weird and wonderful thing.
Carman Skeehan is a glass artist and maker, living in Adelaide, South Australia. Having completed the Jam Factory associate program in 2023, Carman has hit a milestone in her work, elevating her artistic practice. Guided by the meticulous creative process, Carman centres her work on the art of storytelling through glass, exploring the intersection of narrative and materials. Skeehan draws inspiration from early oil paintings and still lifes, creating a unique likeness in glass materials. Her work is an exploration of these elements, seamlessly blending them to create unique and compelling pieces of art.
Lotte Schwerdtfeger is an artist, currently a studio tenant at the JamFactory Ceramics Studio, Tarndanya/Adelaide. She is materially led across many mediums, being consistently drawn to ceramic processes. Lotte hand builds ceramics, coiling and pinching both functional, sculptural and installation works; combining tendrils of research which span anthropology, biology, symbolism and revelry in the small psychedelic moments of existence. Lotte is delighted by the alchemical and elemental processes of ceramics. She is always intrigued by the role of objects, quotidian and ritual, in defining and connecting human and nonhuman experiences. Lotte is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts; regularly working on commission, collaborative projects and gallery exhibitions. Where possible all materials are salvaged, reused and recycled, working towards a zero waste practice.
Yana Lehey is an environmentally motivated visual artist based on Kaurna land. Her practice spans various mediums, covering drawing, painting, and sculpture, depending on what a project calls for. Most recently, she has applied a textile approach to petroleum-based waste materials like plastic and rubber on a large scale, creating oversized crocheted sculptural works. She developed the necessary techniques as an accessible means for every person to tackle the waste problem without the need for expensive technology and infrastructure. Yana’s interest in environmental art first started to gain traction in 2020, with her first solo exhibition Face Up, featuring monumentally scaled watercolour portraits of nine young climate activists from diverse cultural backgrounds with diverse approaches. The research behind this project formed the basis for Yana’s current practice.
Where: The Breakout at The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: From $22-32
Duration: 60 minutes
PSYCHOPOMP will be held in The Breakout at The Mill. Please come to the foyer at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Accessibility
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com
The God Between Life and Death, Conductor of Souls, Usher of Oblivion, is visiting living souls for the first time through the vessel of a lowly mortal - Poppy! Existential as heck, real Stygian energy, a divine exploration of the meaning human beings bring to their own precious, fleeting existence.
With the support of The Mill, Poppy has enlisted a dream team of local Adelaide theatre-makers, artists and Intense Characters to bring the full production of PSYCHOPOMP screamingly to life. Audiences can expect bodily functions, games, storytelling, all through the eyes of an insensitive, arrogant god and a upsettingly human intermediary.
“A script both witty and wise delivered in a flawlessly clear presentation.” David Cronin, The Clothesline ★★★★
“Psychopomp is a triumph of clowning and storytelling. It’s a show that dares to be both raunchy and sincere, mad and meaningful.” Moss Meunier, Binge Fringe ★★★★
“Poppy’s movement is exacting throughout, with her alternating between her and the deity character at times as subtle as a change in stance.” Gianluca Noble, InDaily ★★★★
This show was developed through The Mill’s Centre Stage Residency, in partnership with Adelaide Fringe.
Poppy Mee is an actor, writer and theatre-maker working on unceded Kaurna land. Since completing her undergraduate training at ACArts in 2017, she has worked as an actor and writer on numerous local and interstate stage and screen projects.
Credits include Heavy Red, Lucy and DiC and Stateless. In 2019 she was the recipient of a Carclew Fellowship to study theatre-making at Fourth Monkey in London, resulting in her first solo project, A Slight Exaggeration, which premiered at The Mill for Adelaide Fringe 2021. As a member of RUMPUS Theatre she performed in various productions as well as serving as co-head writer on Hamlet In The Other Room (2021).
Poppy recently undertook specialist training at L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France, studying Le Jeu and clowning performance technique. Her second solo work, PSYCHOPOMP: A Cordial Evening with the Messenger God of Hope and Doom, premiered its initial season at The Courtyard of Curiosities at Adelaide Fringe 2024, and is currently holding its second creative development for Fringe 2025, with support from Adelaide Fringe and The Mill. Poppy is a proud MEAA member.
Where: The Breakout at The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: From $20-30
Duration: 60 minutes
Art is the Medium will be held in The Breakout at The Mill. Please come to the foyer at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Accessibility
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com
"Dear Lover", she begins to speak, unseen, her disembodied consciousness extending an invite into a world of creation.
The music plays, each string and key carefully woven as the words are truthfully spoken: "No longer just an incarnation, I am the threads in words that spell out the birth of Nubian Queen."
Curious? Come and see Praise Mangena in a collaborative project of music, movement and spoken word poetry.
“Such a wonderful and intimate performance which will leave you so impressed! Definitely a must see!” Adelaide Fringe Audience Feed, Hidden Gem
“Every Fringe there is at least one show I absolutely fall in love with, and this year it's Art is the Medium, a spectacular masterpiece of music, spoken word, and physical performance. With beautiful poetry about love, dreams, and time, performer Praise Mangena takes us to bewitching, relatable places from our past and our fantasies. Every line she speaks has a captivating sense of gravitas which, when combined with her slow and deliberate body movements, is simply hypnotising.” Adelaide Adventurer
This show was developed through The Mill’s Centre Stage Residency, in partnership with Adelaide Fringe.
Praise Mangena is a multidisciplinary performing artist, based in Kaurna Country-Adelaide, with strong interests in dance and poetry. Over the last three years she has featured in a variety of events and performances such as Word on the Street Vol. 2 (2024), Draw Your (S)words (2024), SA Playwrights Reading Night (2022/24), Mixed Bag Poetry (2023), Soul Lounge (2023), JAUMA FEST (2023) and WOMAD (2022).
This year, she debuted as a music video director under the company of Adverse Reign for ‘KABALA’ (by Magajie) and this sets as a continuation of her exploration in art now adding script writing as a skill. She’s continued her work as a creative director in the company playing an integral role in the success of the most recent live show of Word on the Street Vol. 2 which was featured Live at the Lab during the 2024 Illuminate Adelaide Winter Festival.
Her journey continues as she prepares to officially launch her project ‘Art is the Medium’ at The Mill Adelaide with musicians Jack Green and Vanté Kay for the 2025 Fringe season.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Carmen Alcedo as the recipient of the Photographer in Residence program for 2025. Presented in partnership with the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation Fund, Carmen will receive a 12-month studio space in 2025 and an exhibition outcome as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Program in 2026.
Carmen Alcedo is a Spanish-born freelance photographer based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a background as a lawyer.
With over seven years of experience in professional photography, her work focuses on storytelling, capturing personal narratives and intimate moments through both portrait and documentary photography.
Carmen's artistic practice explores themes of identity, transformation, and human connection, often delving into how we relate to our environment and the people around us. She combines technical proficiency with emotional depth to create visual narratives that resonate with the viewer.
Carmen's exhibitions include Imaginary Journeys (SALA 2024), currently on display at Cherrybomb Cafe in Adelaide, and participation in the group exhibition TEACHERS, LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE at 229LAB in Paris (2024). She has also exhibited in the Hybrid Art Fair (2016-2018) and the Affordable Art Fair in Sydney (2022).
Currently, Carmen is involved in community-driven art projects in the Brompton Community Garden, where she collaborates with others to create work that fosters connection and environmental awareness.
Photo: Bri Hammond
The Photographer in Residence program is presented in partnership with the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation Fund.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Steph Daughtry as the recipient of the 2025 Writer in Residence.
The Writer in Residence program, in partnership with CityMag, supports emerging writers from a variety of disciplines. The program creates a broader audience for writing through leadership, mentorship and publication.
Steph is an award winning cross-disciplinary artist, producer, director, and writer working predominantly in live performance and installation.
Specialising in collaborative and devised forms of theatre that explore social and environmental impacts, her credits include Brag Drunch (Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2023), The Fish Bowl (Best Theatre and Physical Theatre Award at the Adelaide Fringe in 2022), and Eating Tomorrow (Sustainability Award Adelaide Fringe 2021).
Steph works as an independent freelance artist, as well as in her role as the co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of production company Post Dining, producing award-winning, innovative forms of entertainment and education designed to engage all the senses.
Steph is currently completing her PhD as part of Uni SA Creative exploring the impact of cultural policy on the capacity for artists to engage in professional practice. As part of this research Steph has published in the Journal of Sociology exploring the impact of arts funding, and has previously written for Felt Space as part of their writers program, and published pieces in Fine Print magazine and The Skinny (Edinburgh). Steph looks forward to using her residency to translate her research into smaller digestible pieces that engage with the artistic community at The Mill and wider Adelaide.
Photo: Bri Hammond
The Writer in Residence program is presented in partnership with CityMag.
You can find Object Permanence in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Object Permanence, a new exhibition by Bri Hammond developed through The Mill’s Photographer in Residence program, presented with support from the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation.
For Object Permanence Bri has developed a personal project examining the relationship between objects and memory, connecting generations of her family through unlikely treasures. Bri’s signature bright colours and playful aesthetic elicit common memories of childhood. Collections of doll hair brushes, shells collected on the beach by her grandparents, and pieces of board games are common place and yet exquisitely familiar, capable of transporting us back to our own birthday parties and beach trips. While easily disregarded, Bri’s attention to these objects sheds light on their relationships to our bodies, every object held by tiny hands. At the same time, Bri speaks about the joys and the struggles of parenthood, and the overload of information, parenting hacks, theories of childhood development and pasta necklaces that come along with modern parenting.
Object Permanence is presented with support from the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation.
Object Permanence is a still-life photographic series exploring the connection between parenting and childhood, using objects accumulated over generations. The term ‘object permanence’ is used to describe a child’s ability to understand that objects continue to exist, even though they can no longer be seen or heard. Through the work, I am questioning why families hold onto certain things, and how objects and photography can serve as tools for memory.
With vibrant colours and graphic compositions, the photos seem at first glance to exude a happy, everything-is-fine mood. But a closer look reveals grubby fingerprints all over a deflated balloon, or ripped hair stuck to an odd collection of tiny brushes. A dead bee, presented to me by my son, is melted into the wax of a birthday candle. A vase I’ve owned for decades, smashed during an unsupervised moment, is mended with playdough and houses a pipe-cleaner flower – a gift from childcare.
The hero piece displays hundreds of small items; gathered, photographed and printed on adhesive wallpaper. From precious gemstones foraged by my grandparents, to small game pieces and feathers found on the street, the composition examines what we place value on, especially when parenting and consumerism now feel so entwined.
I became a mum in 2022. While grappling with this transition, I came across a theory that has stuck in my mind. Psychotherapist Philippa Perry said in The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, ‘Whatever age your child is, they are liable to remind you, on a bodily level, of the emotions you went through when you were at a similar stage.’ This prompted me to look back on my own childhood and adolescence, the good and the bad. I’m hoping parents will feel a sense of solidarity with the work, and that others will recognise their own childhood within the frames.
Bri Hammond is a photographer living on Kaurna country in Adelaide, previously residing on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne, until recently. Her work displays a mix of authentic emotions and odd moments, usually expressed with poppy colours and graphic compositions. She loves championing the peculiarities of life and highlighting the idiosyncrasies of people and places. Originally a graphic designer, she began her career with a year-long residency at Fabrica, Benetton’s Creative Research Centre in Treviso, Italy in 2011. Bri now creates images for a wide range of clients, publications and organisations across Australia with a unique visual approach.
Bri’s debut solo exhibition ‘Nuoto da sola (I swim alone)’ was shown at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne, 2019. In 2022, her first photobook ‘Endline - Deathcare during Melbourne’s Covid Crisis’, won the photobook prize at Melbourne’s Centre of Contemporary Photography. Bri has completed a Bachelor of Visual Communication (Design) at UniSA, and a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) at RMIT.
This exhibition has support from
The Mill’s Photographer in Residence program, presented with support from the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation.
You can find Oriana Julie’s exhibitionin The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Head in The Clouds, a new exhibition by Oriana Julie developed through The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
Head in The Clouds is an exploration of creative play, embracing spontaneous method making in order to form a hybrid, affective sanctuary. Oriana uses foraged objects - discarded furniture, vintage glassware, beads, synthetic fibers, and organic matter - turning everyday items into objects of divine contemplation. She speaks about the idea of sublime escapism, where she has created a shared affective experience for audiences. Here, art and art-making exist outside of language and are instead experienced through feeling. Slow and meditative processes are positioned as a form of care and the body is grounded through the state of creative flow.
Head in The Clouds ispresented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin and Creative Australia.
Situated on Kaurna Land in Adelaide, Oriana pioneers a visual language rooted in Afro-surrealism, leveraging imagination to embrace empowering diasporic narratives. She blends bold visual and performance artistry to spark dialogue on time, identity, and culture, transforming personal narratives into spaces of sublime escape informed by personal mythos. Her work is characterized by a fusion of African American and Italian heritage, shaped by her upbringing on an Air Force base in Woomera and the lush landscapes of the Adelaide Hills. These diverse influences create a unique exploration of cultural identity.
Oriana’s creative process is deeply connected to the sensory experiences of the body. Utilizing various mediums such as oil paint, beads, and resins, she creates immersive environments that translate embodied sensations into material expression. Inspired by Rococo, Surrealist, and Neoclassical aesthetics, her work blends symbols and motifs into a harmonious chaos.Through her innovative approach, Oriana contributes significantly to the academic and artistic discourse on Afro-surrealism and its relevance in contemporary art culture
In 2022, Oriana graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Art from Adelaide Central School of Art, earning an invitation to pursue Honours. Over the past few years, she has secured various commissions and residencies. In 2021, she participated in the Nexus Arts Studio residency, held her first solo exhibition, and engaged in a mentorship with Faye Blanche of the Unbound Collective, which enriched her artistic perspective and earned her a nomination for the Don Dunstan Foundation Award. In 2024, she was awarded the Mill Visual Arts Residency, with a solo show planned for 2025, and participated in the Post Ofiice Project’s Studio residency. She was also invited to partake in the Post Office Projects Performance Program, supported by the Creative Industries Grant from the City of PAE and the Kick Start Graduate Grant from Adelaide Central School of Art.
Oriana continues to push the boundaries of Afro-surrealism, contributing to its discourse and evolution within the contemporary art world. Her work not only reflects her unique cultural heritage and personal experiences but also serves as a powerful commentary on the complexities of identity and the human condition.
Informed by my childhood experience of always "having my head in the clouds" and being "off with the fairies," this body of work seeks to reframe this personal narrative into a space of sublime escape through spontaneous method-making, depicting a personal mythos. These moments of sublime escape explore the function of fantasy as an intrinsic tool for imagination, deeply connected to embodied feelings. In this realm of sublime escapism, I grant myself permission to delve into the depths of my being and emotions. The works can be viewed as an internal dialogue, manifesting in tactile forms.
The exhibition unfolds as an internal conversation, guided by personal mythos and translated into the tactile and material expression of embodied sensation. The sensory processes of the body are integrated into the art-making, forming an intrinsically connected environment through various mediums. In this space, distinctions between worlds and categories dissolve. Soft hues articulate a union between the characters and the spaces they inhabit. During these moments of sublime escape, the characters find solace in transcending societal constraints, becoming unapologetically empowered.
This exhibition has support from
The Visual Arts Residency is presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin
You can find Under 30’s Eat Free in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Under 30’s Eat Free, a new solo exhibition by studio resident Lucky Smith.
Combining pop-art flatness with anthropomorphic characters, Lucky explores contemporary anxieties in a way that is both jovial and deadly serious. Bold and bright, and slightly disconcerting, we see his subjects navigating everyday scenarios in unusual ways - a day at the beach turns into a most strange place to adopt a kitten, while a Rapa Nui (Easter Island) moai statue spills the tea on a date at a Parisienne bistro. Lucky has also begun exploring the addition of textured oil paint within his otherwise modernly flat scenes, bringing a new quality within the paintings.
The body of works are uncanny and relatable, shedding light on the ‘coming of age’ we experience as we enter our 30s.
The impending turn of thirty is an age of paralytic decision-making, the frazzled and hurried pursuit of escaping dreams, and an overwhelming sensation one is not where they need to be as they are compared to their contemporaries and generations before them.
Under 30s Eat Free is a visual representation of my comparative and anxious feelings towards turning 30 in the present day.
This introspection began through reading about Peter Freuchen, an early twentieth century Danish explorer who before thirty had raised a family of three in the midst of mapping the borders and climate of the arctic circle, and literally fought off wolves that encroached on his weather recording outpost - a three day sled from the expeditions’ operations command centre.
He spent five years in the arctic. Upon returning home to Denmark Frechuen journaled, “I felt like a stranger when I encountered my old friends. I was proud of my strength and ability to live for long periods without food, but these things meant nothing to them.”
As the biological urge to start a family and forego the insecurity of contract work weighs, I began a transition from the fast paced and tortuous nature of the film industry to the seemingly more sensible corporate 9 to 5. I feel the aforementioned quote summarises my experience in making this transition quite well.
My most recent experience in the film industry consisted of 14 hour days, six day weeks, an eight week stretch without a lunch break, six weeks of social isolation, Non Disclosure Agreements loaded with very real threat of legal action, and crippling heat all done for the largest serial commissioned in Australia, by the biggest streaming platform of our age. However, within short succession I was informed by BUPA I have the option to stay on my parents’ private health insurance until the age of 32, and I was told by my new workplace if I wish to come in early to get work done I first need to earn the company’s trust via a year long probation before being granted access to the security alarm code.
In this exhibition nine images in oil and acrylic on canvas, empathetically visualise many contemporary lifestyle and workplace problems shared by Generation Z and their fringes. Such concerns include whether to choose a career of passion or financial comfort, the requirements to enter a job with a wealth of knowledge beyond one’s years, whether to choose a soul mate or children, and the confiscation of autonomy, which all seemingly prolong childhood into one’s late-thirties.
This series of works is my life and career retrospective built on strong fluctuating binary feelings of guilt, shame, regret, anger, and self-loathing which necessitates expressive colour, scale, and visuals that demands the viewer’s attention, like a pub banner announcing free meals for us kids. The imagery is confusing and abrasive, uncanny, dreamlike, familiar and yet… off, perpetuated by a fluctuating use of palette knives and brushes, and the contrast of thickly layered oils on an acrylic background.
The creation of these artworks journal my epiphany into what I believe adulthood is; that old adage, if you want to be treated like an adult you have to behave like an adult.
Lucky Smith is a passionate expressionist painter from rural South Australia, now living and working in Adelaide. Lucky specialises in large scale portraiture of pop culture personalities and surrealist scenes using oil & acrylics. An avid painter from the age of six, his organically developed style has blossomed into grand and colourful artworks that fill a wall, brighten a room, and invite a crowd into vibrant conversation.
Lucky is an imaginative storyteller, learning foundations from John Collee’s AFTRS Screenwriting seminar, and travelling to New York in 2022 to study story structure under screen and writing lecturer Robert McKee. Lucky uses these storytelling principles to construct scenes in his artwork which empathetically explore complex interpersonal exchanges and idiosyncratic social situations, with recurring motifs such as anthropomorphised animals and retro pop culture.
Lucky has worked in graphic design and the film industry for over a decade, working on such
significant projects as The Tourist (2020, STAN), La Brea (2020, NBC), & Territory (2024, NETFLIX).
Lucky’s artwork is displayed in numerous public and private collections domestically and internationally. His solo exhibition ‘Your Spectrum is Showing’ was held at Linhay Gallery in Auburn SA in 2022. Lucky has a studio at The Mill - Adelaide, and will be exhibiting as part of The Mill’s Visual Art program in 2025.
You can find Patterned Disproportion in The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Patterned Disproportion, a new solo exhibition by Clare Valley based artist Meg Mader.
In this exhibition Meg uses her signature vibrant painting style, taking viewers on an imaginative journey through playful, disproportionate and extraordinary scenes. Checkerboard floors and ornate wallpaper come together to give a glimpse into the lives of music-playing ornaments, mischievous gnomes and a most sophisticated doll house. We’re invited to fill in the narrative, whose beautiful house is this? Is this maggie performing a Billie Holiday tribute? Indeed, could the ornaments and pets in our own homes also have such glamorous secret lives?
In bringing to life the ordinary and everyday, Meg also imbues her characters with agency, a portrait of a dog is playfully titled ‘Fetch me Equality’, mirroring the sentiment of her portrait titled ‘Determination Inspiration Imagination’. The work is equally entertaining and playful as it is personal and political.
As an illustrative artist, I’m captivated by the vibrancy of acrylic ink and gouache, using them to bring life and colour to objects, animals, and scenes. Recently, my work has delved into the role of patterns, which evoke a sense of time and place within each composition. For this exhibition, I have created a series of paintings using objects, patterns and colour to capture an imagined moment in time. Alongside these are still-life scenes drawn from a mix of found, gifted, and personal objects—each carrying its own story—arranged in settings with playful, disproportionate scales.
The altered scales introduce a sense of surrealism, inviting viewers to see everyday objects in new and unexpected ways. Patterns within each disproportionate room add depth and rhythm, framing each scene within a distinct narrative context.
The exhibition is an entertaining, immersive journey inviting viewers to experience a new life for ordinary objects, reimagined in a timeless, dynamic space. This exhibition encourages a closer look at the ordinary, a rethinking of scale, and an interactive encounter with past and present woven together.
Meg Mader works predominantly with acrylic inks, gouache, and pen to create vibrant illustrations of animals, still life, and pop culture mash-ups. She has participated in many group exhibitions. Noteworthy are her duo exhibitions with collaborator Stu Nankivell, where she ventures into augmented reality, adding another layer to her works. In her solo exhibitions, Meg explores themes and narratives of her choice including literary mashups and still life, allowing for unrestrained expression.
Her artistic style has earned her a Highly Commended and the Incentive Award at the Clare Valley Portrait Prize along with winning the Balco Art Prize's Best Work on Paper. A pivotal moment arrived when Meg was chosen for the Nebula Program by Country Arts SA, offering her the chance to deepen her practice and build connections with fellow regional artists. Meg's art often takes the form of commissioned pieces, frequently commemorating beloved pets and cherished memories.
Since 2017, Meg has expanded her artistic practice by organising art events and workshops across South Australia and a series of large events at Puddleduck Vineyard in Tasmania. Her involvement in a local arts committee and establishment of a weekly art group are other ways to enjoy arts within the community.
You can find The Myth of the Lonely Artist in The Mill’s Gallery Foyer, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
The Mill’s galleries are open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present The Myth of the Lonely Artist, a new Foyer exhibition featuring The Mill Writer in Residence Marina Deller. The digital exhibition explores the stereotypes forced onto writers and artists, focusing on the bright spots of companionship which form part of an art practice or day-to-day life.
I have long been fascinated by stereotypes. This fascination began after deciding I wanted to be a writer when I ‘grew up’. I was interested in the way stories were built, and especially in the idea that characters could have ‘tropes’ like plots could. As a queer teenager, I faced a different kind of stereotyping. It encouraged me to consider what kinds of stereotypes are rife in not only stories but the world they depict, and how – when unexamined, when taken as truth – these can veil or derail true and complex personhood.
Writers are often painted as poor, obsessive to the point of destruction, and lonely. Though the first two I can attest to, the last never sat quite right with me. I asked myself, ‘In examining the world through artistic forms are artists doomed to feel lonely?’
Undertaking the Writer in Residence program at The Mill has been a transformative experience and has helped me explore this question. Early 2024 I was at a kind of post-PhD crossroad professionally and creatively. I craved a space to reconnect with my practice beyond academia. At The Mill, I fell in love with the capacity for a collection of creative humans to inspire, challenge, and support one another. Even the smallest moments – hellos in the hallways and chats over coffee – lit my days. I also found myself inspired by the multi- and inter- disciplinary nature of many of the artists’ works. As well as writing, I wanted to paint and draw (even if badly) and found myself reaching for my camera often. Being at The Mill in this period of change, I felt keenly that the world had a lot to offer me. I also began to observe where and how I was being kept company in my practice and taking note of it, which led to this hybrid project.
So, is there such a thing as a lonely artist? I’m sure there is, somewhere, just as I am now certain I have never been one. My hope for this work is that it allows you to focus on the small, bright spots of companionship which form part of an art practice or simply day-to-day life.
Marina Deller is writer, academic, and critic, working and creating on Kaurna Land. Marina has a PhD in Creative Writing (Life Writing) from Flinders University, where they are an award-winning teacher of Writing and Literature.
In their creative practice Marina examines art, culture, (queer) identity, family, love, and loss. They write essays, short stories, poetry, and hybrid works incorporating objects, art, and photography.
Their writing appears in such outlets as The Conversation, Westerly, Voiceworks, Archer, Babyteeth Journal, and InDaily and has been painted on the city streets as part of Raining Poetry in Adelaide. Their short story “Nostos” was shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction 2021, and their essay “Dresses, heavy with water” was highly commended in the AAWP/Westerly Magazine Life Writing Prize 2022.
Marina is also a recent recipient of the Island View Writers’ House Emerging Writer Residency and an active member of the Life Narrative Lab where they curate and run reading events which platform emerging life writers.
This exhibition has been created as a personal project through The Mill’s Writer in Residence program.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Dai Trang Nguyen as the recipient of the Kayangan Visual Arts Studio Residency in 2025. The Mill’s KayanganVisual Arts Studio Residency is supported by donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin, Arts SA and OzAsia Festival.
Dai Trang will receive 6-months of studio space and an exhibition outcome in The Mill’s Gallery II as part of OzAsia Festival 2025.
Kayanganis a Malay word meaning ‘heaven’ or ‘from the sky’.
Dai Trang is a Vietnamese artist and designer based in Kaurna Country whose creative journey spans the UK, Vietnam, and Australia. With a foundation in graphic design, her work radiates vibrancy and a profound connection to colour.
During the solitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, art became her sanctuary, a way to delve into self-discovery and expression. This transformative period led to her first solo exhibition in Vietnam, exploring themes of self-identity. Inspired by this milestone, she moved to South Australia in 2022 to pursue contemporary art, embracing experimentation and deepening her artistic practice.
Living far from home has enriched her connection to her heritage and mindfulness practices. Deeply influenced by mindfulness and Buddhism, her work has evolved from structured design to an intuitive, meditative process she calls Moment Art. Rooted in the present moment, by letting go of judgment and pre-determined notions, she lets life unfold naturally through painting, textiles and found objects.
After three years of solitary practice for self-understanding, Dai Trang has recently begun sharing her work in the local art scene. Her creations reflect her inner journey, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and connect with their innermost selves.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
This residency has support from
The Kayangan Visual Arts Studio Residency is supported by donors Geoff and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Nadera Rasulova as the recipient of the Visual Arts Studio Residency in the second half of 2025. Nadera Rasulova will receive 6-months of studio space and an exhibition outcome in The Mill’s Gallery II in 2026. The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency is supported by donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
Nadera Rasulova is an emerging abstract artist whose work explores the intersection of her Central Asian heritage and Australian upbringing.
Drawing inspiration from Uzbek cultural traditions and Western societal norms, Nadera’s art fosters a dialogue between these two worlds. Her compositions often take the form of patchwork topographies, evoking the diverse natural environments she has encountered throughout her life.
Her use of upward and downward strokes in oil paint is reminiscent of the intricate techniques of traditional Uzbek silk weaving, reflecting her cultural roots. These gestures, combined with modern abstraction, create works that resonate with themes of memory, identity, and place.
Sustainability plays a significant role in Nadera’s practice. She consciously works with canvas and linen offcuts, transforming what would typically be discarded into meaningful, purposeful art. This commitment to repurposing materials reflects both her respect for the environment and her dedication to creative innovation.
In 2022, Nadera’s work Greenwashing was selected as a finalist for the National Emerging Artist Prize, marking a significant milestone in her career. As her practice evolves, Nadera continues to bridge tradition and contemporary issues, producing art that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
The Visual Arts Residency is presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
You can find Fragments in The Mill’s Foyer, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
The Mill is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Fragments, a new Showcase exhibition featuring The Mill studio resident, jeweller Erin Daniell. The exhibition features wearable sculptures inspired by the natural South Australian landscape, in particular the Fleurieu Peninsula.
‘Fragments’ is a small collection of wearable sculptures that are inspired by the eroded coastline of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Each metal form has been hand sculpted in wax to mimic the striations and undulations of sedimentary rock and weathered flora found along the coast. Broken and irregular, these pieces are like broken shells and flotsam and jetsam that washes up along the sand. The intuitive process of moulding is what creates the organic texture found on the surface of the pieces and the uncontrollable nature of the wax material is what informs the final result.
In contrast the expectation mass production set by fast fashion, the making process of this work is slow and mindful. Craft and preservation workmanship is a central part of the artistic practice, and each piece is one of a kind. Driving the work is a love of beauty and the human connection to objects, as they act as reminders of places, people or history.
Erin Daniell is a jewellery designer and visual artist based in Tarntanya/Adelaide. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts at Flinders University in 2021, and she was selected for the Peter Walker/Helpmann Advancement award in 2020. In 2022, Daniell participated in the JamFactory Associate Training Program in the Jewellery and Metal Studio.
Daniell's design philosophy reflects an exploration of growth and beauty, taking inspiration from natural forms. She builds organic shapes to create small scale sculptures and jewellery collections. Employing her own take on ancient cire perdue techniques, she manipulates liquid wax by pulling and twisting to create fragile forms that are each as unique as a fingerprint. This process infuses her designs with natural textures that carry an elemental aesthetic, reminiscent of mollusc spiral growth patterns and coastal erosion striations.
Daniell has exhibited in galleries such as Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, CRAFT ACT, Canberra and Zu Design, Adelaide and she was selected as finalist in the Parklands Prize in 2023. Her works are currently stocked in KIN Gallery, Canberra and JamFactory, Adelaide. She has received grants from Helpmann Academy and Australia Council for the Arts and has undertaken an Artist in Residence program in the Mornington Peninsula.
You can find Between Dream and Reality in The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Between Dream and Reality, a new Showcase exhibition featuring The Mill studio residents Gough Pitawat and August Porter. The exhibition features landscape paintings by these two emerging artists, whose individual styles create dreamlike, hazy and abstract interpretations of the natural world. We're thrilled to be able to profile these two artists alongside each other, with their distinct practices that compliment each other.
Artist Statement
I am an impressionistic landscape artist. My work focuses on creating artworks that influence the audience’s feelings through forms, movements, and colours, transporting them to the places I depict not just visually, but as if they were experiencing them firsthand.
To me, a landscape is not just the sky, the trees, or the mountains. The subject matter is only a part of the landscape. My works encompass the entire environment, aiming to make the audience feel the wind blowing, the warmth of the sun, or the chill of a breeze in the air.
Through experimentation, I developed a unique oil painting technique and mixture that leaves brush marks on the canvas to enhance the sense of movement. This technique captures the motion of clouds drifting across the sky and bushes swaying in the wind. I want my works to feel alive.
By using colours to mimic the atmosphere, I evoke sensations such as the feeling of green grass on a hot and humid day, the comfort of being in a particular place, the discomfort of a storm, or the emptiness in your chest when gazing at the evening sky.
The land holds feelings and memories, causing past events to flash back every time you visit a place. To me, landscapes represent inspiration, hope, and sentimental.
Biography
Gough Pitawat was born in a small village in Thailand in 1989 and relocated to Australia in 2014. Although he had a passion for art, considering it initially as a hobby, he began to pursue it more seriously in 2017.
Over the course of five years, Gough has engaged in intensive training and practice, focusing primarily on classical and realist approaches. However, he felt that this focus alone was not enough, so he decided to enrol in art school in 2022.
Gough chose to major in Photography to gain a deeper understanding of the elements that influence the emotional impact of photographs and the techniques used in image composition. His objective was to integrate this knowledge of composition, conceptualization, and development into his own artistic practice.
During the academic year, his work was recognized as one of 'The Australian Top 40 Emerging Photographers of 2022' by Capture magazine, marking a significant step forward in his career within the art world. Unfortunately, due to financial hardships, Gough has been unable to continue his studies. Therefore, has sought alternative opportunities, eventually finding a place at The Mill, where he is now continuing to cultivate his artistic practice and advance his skills.
When not painting in studio at The Mill, you’ll find artist August Porter getting her hands dirty in the garden. As an abstract and semi-abstract painter and landscape designer, she draws inspiration from her home’s surrounding bushland. After years of observing the environment and being a passionate gardener, August truly understands nature’s rhythm. Her deep connection to the natural world allows her to paint the peaceful and dynamic life force.
Self-taught, with years of painting as a hobby, August took the leap to full-time artist in 2020-and has not looked back. As an intuitive painter, she evokes the elusive and intangible, reflecting what can only be felt or sensed as an indescribable beauty of the landscape.
August’s work explores beyond the surface of what we see and embodies the land’s spirit. She creates depth through layers, and fluid strokes result in dynamic movements within the paintings.
Rarely static, each piece depicts the fleeting yet eternal, continuous cycle of life. She’s currently exploring these themes on a larger scale and is excited to see what emerges.
You can find Glister in the Sun in The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present Glister in the Sun, a new group exhibition featuring Emiko Artemis, Michael Carney, Chelsea Farquhar and Belinda Wilson, curated by Adele Sliuzas. The exhibition explores the role of the artist within the creation of folklore through visual art, written text and photography. Their work shows that folklore is still alive today, popping up in the stories we tell, songs we sing, and the way we remember and share these traditions. This captivating exhibition encourages viewers to reflect on their connection to tradition, exploring how customs shape personal identity and create a sense of belonging.
Glister in the Sun is a new exhibition of works by South Australian artists exploring dialogue with time, history and cultural lore. Featuring new works by Emiko Artemis, Michael Carney, Chelsea Farquhar and Belinda Wilson. The exhibition considers the role of the artist within the creation of folklore; that artistry, style, creation and alteration influence the construction of cultural ideology. The artists represented all explore deep relationships with time through archival research, material flux, exchange, and representation of cultural stories.
Let me go on
Like I glister in the sun
Let me go on
Big hands, I know you're the one.
Glister in the Sun is an exhibition about the way that ‘art’ and ‘life’ are deeply entwined. Curating an exhibition is kind of like telling a story, pulling together gestures, colours and moods to create a feeling within the gallery space. This story speaks about rituals and journeys, and about the way that art can affect the body of the maker, wearer, viewer, listener. I wanted to bring together artists whose work shows the ways that folklore and folkloric traditions continue within contemporary contexts and exist beyond the written archive- folklore thrives in oral stories, songs, and artifacts, performance, movement and memory. While the cultural study of folklore has taken a western approach to categorising and delineating, I also want to acknowledge that folklores exist outside of the colonial lens- they are oral, flexible and spiritual in ways that resist.
Excerpt from Curator Essay by Adele Sliuzas, full text available above
Artist Statement
The images presented for the group show, Glister in the Sun, are centered around the ongoing theme of Haunting that I have been exploring for the last two years. First enacted during a residency in Oatlands, Tasmania, i have continued to use the metaphor of haunting to grapple with ideas around histories that will not sleep until they are resolved. As someone who has personal histories needing resolution, and someone who is also a child of migrants from Sweden who were escaping their own grief and trauma, I have a close understanding of the way history rises up through time to reassert itself in the present until it is addressed. The images were created at Kulkyne/Mildura, on the lands of the Latji Latji peoples. They were created near an historic pumphouse on the river and they ask, what happens to history when it is not addressed? What happens to the people of the past whose stories are not heard? History, as we know, is written by the victors but history never stops speaking. There is always a time to look back and tell the stories of the past. The people of the past are still there, waiting to speak.
Biography
Emiko Artemis graduated with a PhD in 2012 and was awarded the University medal for their honors year. They were a Hatched Graduate exhibitor at PICA in their undergraduate year. They have also completed a master of Design at The University of South Australia. Since graduating Emiko has been a finalist in art prizes and won awards such as category winner in the Manning Valley art prize .Before relocating to South Australia, Emiko was president of IAVA in NSW and was showcased in Wollongong regional gallery’s Local Current show.
In 2020 they were selected as a grantee to attend Meeting Place, Arts Access Australia’s annual arts gathering. In 2021 they were artist in residence at Saubier House. Emiko was awarded first prize in the Waverly Woollahra Printmaking Digital Prize. Their work has appeared in publications including CODE magazine and Open Doors Collective. They have been profiled by the Illawarra times and interviewed by Radio Adelaide and Regional Arts Australia about their practice. Alongside their Visual arts practice, Emiko has also run a number of successful community arts projects and has presented work in seminars and online platforms as well as in traditional exhibition format. Recently, Emiko was asked to create temporary sculpture to be exhibited outside of the prestige Adelaide arts venue, The MOD (the Museum of Design) and has successfully completed an innovative sculpture ready for installation.Emiko has also been selected for a scholarship funded arts residence and exhibition at The RoyalSouth Australian Arts Society in 2022/23, presented their talk” Queering the World “ at BetterTogether 2023 and has been awarded funding through Country Arts SA to attend an arts residency atOatlands, Tasmania in 2023. Emiko presented their research and performance work At the Performance of the Real conference in Dunedin New Zealand, with funding through Country Arts South Australia. Emiko’s performance practice has been recognized through invitations to present their performance work at both Burrinja Arts Center in Melbourne in 2023 and Neoetric, part of the Adelaide Festival in South Australia in 2024 as well as HillsceneLive2024. Emiko’s professionalism in their practice has also been recognized through invitations to assess grant applications with Creative Australia and to represent regional South Australia during Regional Arts Australia’s symposium, Artlands 2023. Emiko currently works from their studio space at Fleurieu Arthouse in Maclaren Vale, South Australia.
Artist Statement
My paintings explore storytelling at its most fractured and fluid, engaging with vignettes and storyboard techniques that deliberately distort and elude traditional narrative structures. Much like folklore, which evolves and shifts over time, my work presents fragmented stories open to the viewer's interpretation, encouraging them to piece together their own meaning from the imagery.
In Echoe, dual landscapes offer two perspectives, allowing the canvas to be rotated for a compositionally similar, skewed perspective. The horizon lines and illuminated central hillside are compositionally identical in both landscapes, yet the elements making up this composition have shifted and changed. This speaks to how stories over time shift and adapt, much like folklore evolving through oral traditions.
A Quiet Pursuit, featuring two large figures walking with a melancholic yet purposeful energy, embodies a similar ambiguity. The figures, veiled in white light, suggest a dreamlike quality, obscuring their narrative and allowing for emotional flux. This vagueness encourages the viewer to bring their own energy and interpretation to the work, becoming an active participant in the narrative process.
The interplay of these works reflects the fluid relationship between myth, memory, and the present, inviting personal connections that ripple through both time and story
Biography
Michael Carney is an interdisciplinary artist found most often working with paint, clay, digital and virtual reality mediums.
His practice began in 2009 as a painting undergraduate at the University of South Australia where he was introduced to ceramics as his minor. By 2016 he had completed a Masters by Research (Visual Arts) where both ceramics and painting became the predominant processes in his exhibition practice.
Both ceramics and paintings blend contemporary and antiquated aesthetics to present work that plays with notions of time in flux. Works that are rendered or figurative are often shattered with a gestural flourish forcing the viewer to continue to explore the pictorial plane for a familiar foothold. His work stops short of overt explanation, whilst ontological themes and philosophies are presented, he prefers to activate the viewer’s own contemplation within the broader theme.
Chelseais an emerging artist who utilises her artistic practice as a place of observation and contemplation. She is process driven and explorative in her use of mediums from sculpture, performance, and video. Play, testing and examination, are important elements of her practice for blacksmithing, led lighting and costuming. Time is an important contextual element to her work: time it takes to explore materials; make and sculptural works being a marker of time.
Collaboration with visual artists, musicians and other creatives has pushed her practice to evolve and expand upon the visual language of memories. The fluidity of mediums and flexibility of collaboration has allowed Chelsea to deeply explore her sculptural practice and push concepts of process and product.
Farquhar graduated with First Class Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2020. She was awarded a West Space Window award and exhibited 2021; in 2018 received a Carclew Fellowship assisting her to complete a Scottish Sculpture Workshop and a New York residency. This year Chelsea will be developing her practice further with a residency at Watch This Space gallery in Alice Springs NT.
Belinda Wilson is a Ngarrindjeri woman, and a painter, weaver and sculptor. She was born on Raukkan mission in 1956, she grew up there until she was four years old. Her father and mother moved to Kingston for work on the waterworks. They stayed in Kingston for a year and then her father got permanent work on the railways in Kalangadoo. She lived there with her three brothers and her sister until she was 16 and then left SA to go to Victoria with her partner.
Belinda started painting right there in Kalangadoo, she started drawing at home and then in school. She was always creative and loved to make using things from nature. Her family would go out hunting for kangaroo, swan eggs. Belinda has a daughter and a son who are also very creative. Belinda lives with her daughter on the south coast and collects materials from nature to create her weaving and to make jewellery as well as using recycled and found materials.
Her paintings are inspired by nature. There is connection through her work to nature through repetition. Everything is connected, she explores these themes, there is layers and hidden meaning that speaks to people differently.
We’re back with a jam-packed season for Adelaide Fringe 2025!
Expect everything from theatre to spoken word, comedy, music, cabaret, exhibitions and workshops. This year, our intimate black-box theatre, The Breakout, will play host to shows from 13 incredible companies.
Make sure to throw your support behind these acts and grab your tickets!
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The God Between Life and Death, Conductor of Souls, Usher of Oblivion, is visiting living souls for the first time through the vessel of a lowly mortal - Poppy! Existential as heck, real Stygian energy, a divine exploration of the meaning human beings bring to their own precious, fleeting existence.
With the support of The Mill, Poppy has enlisted a dream team of local Adelaide theatre-makers, artists and Intense Characters to bring the full production of PSYCHOPOMP screamingly to life. Audiences can expect bodily functions, games, storytelling, all through the eyes of an insensitive, arrogant god and a upsettingly human intermediary.
“Dear Lover”, she begins to speak, unseen, her disembodied consciousness extending an invite into a world of creation. The music plays, each string and key carefully woven as the words are truthfully spoken…”no longer just an incarnation, I am the threads in words that spell out the birth of Nubian Queen”.
Curious? Come and see Praise Mangena in a collaborative project of music, movement and spoken word poetry.
One courier. One impossible delivery. How far will he go to complete his order?
Written & performed by Piers MacKenzie, fresh off his starring role as Daniel Radcliffe in Edinburgh Fringe 2024’s most talked-about show, TERF. This dark comedy, inspired by his time as a Deliveroo cyclist, dives into a fractured mind where reality and imagination collide as the brakes come off.
Strap on your helmets and grip those handlebars tight—this ride is full of sharp twists, sudden turns, and plenty of bumps along the way.
A one-person darkly comedic play about growing up autistic (and not knowing it).
Stumbling into a therapist’s office with a stack of paperwork, (and stories to match) Addy recounts what it was like to grow up in a small town catholic school. Through vignettes from Addy’s life, we come to realise the impact your environment can have on coming to accept who you are. We experience how someone may learn to abandon their childhood curiosity and natural expression in favour of an exterior mask: the polar opposite of the internal world.
Administration welcomes you into a space where we can come together and laugh at some shared experiences.
Get ready for a wild ride this Adelaide Fringe! Cast List: A Theatre Kids Cabaretis here, and it’s bursting with the incredible stories of talented teens in the performing arts scene.
Join us for a night of unforgettable performances by seven young artists from the AK Creative Scholarship Program! This amazing program empowers local youth creatives to explore their talents and produce their own cabaret. You’ll experience a journey filled with laughter, passion, and a sprinkle of teenage drama—think powerful monologues, catchy original songs, and dazzling dance numbers!
Don’t miss your chance to witness the next generation of stars shine bright on stage. Bring your friends and come support our local youth as they share their dreams and challenges in this one-of-a-kind cabaret experience!
Join Part of Things and regional storytellers from Port Lincoln, Mount Gambier and the Riverland for a behind the scenes sharing of new works in development.
This will be the first sharing of work in development through the Part of Fringe x Playwright Pals program developed and presented by Part of Things in collaboration with Adelaide Fringe.
Part of Fringe x Playwright Pals is a three-year strategy to build the skills, confidence, networks, and capacity of regional storytellers to develop, create, and present new original performance work.
A man fights for each breath, determined to make it home to Dot. In his isolated, morphine-fuelled delirium, we witness a frail man reliving his fragmented past: a boxer, a soldier, a boilermaker, a miner—dancing with Lady Luck as he battles to win. But is it fate, or sheer will to survive that determines when we return to dust?
Dust is one man’s unforgettable journey, examining generational trauma, resilience, and survival against the backdrop of post-World War II England. Dust is dedicated to the servicemen who fought for their country, the seven men who tragically lost their lives in the 1973 Lofthouse Colliery disaster, and to every miner who lived their lives in darkness, so we could live in the light. Based on a true story.
Uma Dobia is your game show host for the evening as we spin the wheel, shake our maracas and ding our dong. Spotify playlists collide in Popera with questions such as "Why did Trevor leave? What’s cockrockera? And, who will win the air fryer?". Directed by Bronny Lane, get ready for opera, original pop songs, video and on-stage chaos coated in pop culture. If you love your cabaret dirty with an intellectual twist thrown you will definitely want to play POPERA: Sex, Death & Politics as we stomp on the patriarchy and ageism in a pair of red knee-high sparkly boots.
Get ready to spin the wheel, shake your maracas and ding your dong as Popera delivers the most iconic moments of opera coupled with pop! Spotify playlists collide in this game show shining a lense on entrenched misogyny and ageism.
Just before her 20th birthday, Abby asked the world (Facebook) advice for the decade of her 20s. Flooded with guidance from well-meaning friends, enemies, and that person she forgot to block. It’s time to check the comments and compare where life took her. Did she - Invest in property? Get that rash looked at? Shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Let's find out through song and a Facebook deep dive.
Simultaneously, with a new decade unravelling before her, Abby is again seeking guidance - off the internet. So come in person to dish life advice to the best friend you never knew you didn't want. Bring your hopes and dreams for the 30s. Whether they’re behind you, in front of you, or you’re smack bang in the middle… let’s reminisce, plan and discuss the decades behind and before us.
Cherese is just a girl, standing in front of an orange, asking it to make out with her.
Join citric acid daredevil, Cherese Sonkkila, for her debut solo show.
Fruition is a silly smoothie of ridiculous characters, hot dance moves and useless fruit facts. But also asks the serious question: what if all your juiciest dreams came true?
This show is her Fruition. But it is also yours.
Come and get a taste of this zesty, thirst-quenching hour of laughs.
A comical feast of visual music absurdities. Surreal and just plain stupid, it plays with our dark, our light and our overblown ego through theatrical, musical and physical pieces, that draw upon the questions “what unites us and what separates us?”
Collaborating with award winning visual artist extraordinaire Ray Harris, we experiment with illustrations and play with our projections. We dance with the shadow, sing with the dark, absurd ego talk, Patti Smith spark, of musical humour, live visual effects, varied sketches of human aspects, with light and shade and whacked out dismay, of original song, of covered tunes with a cracked view, skewed for you, to peek through. Physical and musical humour at its best.
Hag: a once sacred word, turned into a slur by powerful men of history who disparaged, demonised and burned women at the stake because they had the temerity to be independent. Their knowledge was erased.
In this workshop we reclaim this word and ask ourselves: can we recover a sense of connection to our women ancestors whose voices were silenced? Can we uncover their lost wisdom? This is a remembering. A relearning. You will gain the language and the time to connect to those who informed who you are. You will experience a successful method of dialogue, making, journalling, and embodying to encounter the stories and wisdom of our women ancestors.
We, our conversations, and what we create together, is the art.
You can find Glister in the Sun, Between Dream and Reality and Fragments in The Mill’s Gallery I and II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).
The Mill's Galleries is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.
Accessibility
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Please join us for the closing event for three exhibitions at The Mill, Glister in the Sun, Between Dream and Reality and Fragments.
Glister in the Sun is a new group exhibition featuring Emiko Artemis, Michael Carney, Chelsea Farquhar and Belinda Wilson, curated by Adele Sliuzas. The exhibition explores the role of the artist within the creation of folklore through visual art, written text and photography.
Between Dream and Reality is a new Showcase exhibition featuring The Mill studio residents Gough Pitawat and August Porter. The exhibition features landscape paintings by these two emerging artists, whose individual styles create dreamlike, hazy and abstract interpretations of the natural world.
Fragments is a new Showcase exhibition featuring The Mill studio resident, jeweller Erin Daniell. The exhibition features wearable sculptures inspired by the natural South Australian landscape, in particular the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join Bri Hammond and The Mill's Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas for a chat about Bri’s new solo exhibition Object Permanence showing in Gallery I at The Mill.
About the exhibition
The Mill is excited to present Object Permanence, a new exhibition by Bri Hammond developed through The Mill’s Photographer in Residence program, presented with support from the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation.
For Object Permanence Bri has developed a personal project examining the relationship between objects and memory, connecting generations of her family through unlikely treasures. Bri’s signature bright colours and playful aesthetic elicit common memories of childhood.
Bri Hammond is a photographer living on Kaurna country in Adelaide, previously residing on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne, until recently. Her work displays a mix of authentic emotions and odd moments, usually expressed with poppy colours and graphic compositions. She loves championing the peculiarities of life and highlighting the idiosyncrasies of people and places. Originally a graphic designer, she began her career with a year-long residency at Fabrica, Benetton’s Creative Research Centre in Treviso, Italy in 2011. Bri now creates images for a wide range of clients, publications and organisations across Australia with a unique visual approach.
Bri’s debut solo exhibition ‘Nuoto da sola (I swim alone)’ was shown at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne, 2019. In 2022, her first photobook ‘Endline - Deathcare during Melbourne’s Covid Crisis’, won the photobook prize at Melbourne’s Centre of Contemporary Photography. Bri has completed a Bachelor of Visual Communication (Design) at UniSA, and a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) at RMIT.
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join Oriana Julie and The Mill's Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas for a chat about Oriana’s new solo exhibition Head in the Clouds, showing in Gallery II at The Mill.
About the exhibition
The Mill is excited to present Head in The Clouds, a new exhibition by Oriana Julie developed through The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
Head in The Clouds is an exploration of creative play, embracing spontaneous method making in order to form a hybrid, affective sanctuary. Oriana uses foraged objects - discarded furniture, vintage glassware, beads, synthetic fibers, and organic matter - turning everyday items into objects of divine contemplation.
Situated on Kaurna Land in Adelaide, Oriana pioneers a visual language rooted in Afro-surrealism, leveraging imagination to embrace empowering diasporic narratives. She blends bold visual and performance artistry to spark dialogue on time, identity, and culture, transforming personal narratives into spaces of sublime escape informed by personal mythos. Her work is characterized by a fusion of African American and Italian heritage, shaped by her upbringing on an Air Force base in Woomera and the lush landscapes of the Adelaide Hills. These diverse influences create a unique exploration of cultural identity.
Oriana’s creative process is deeply connected to the sensory experiences of the body. Utilizing various mediums such as oil paint, beads, and resins, she creates immersive environments that translate embodied sensations into material expression. Inspired by Rococo, Surrealist, and Neoclassical aesthetics, her work blends symbols and motifs into a harmonious chaos.Through her innovative approach, Oriana contributes significantly to the academic and artistic discourse on Afro-surrealism and its relevance in contemporary art culture
In 2022, Oriana graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Art from Adelaide Central School of Art, earning an invitation to pursue Honours. Over the past few years, she has secured various commissions and residencies. In 2021, she participated in the Nexus Arts Studio residency, held her first solo exhibition, and engaged in a mentorship with Faye Blanche of the Unbound Collective, which enriched her artistic perspective and earned her a nomination for the Don Dunstan Foundation Award. In 2024, she was awarded the Mill Visual Arts Residency, with a solo show planned for 2025, and participated in the Post Ofiice Project’s Studio residency. She was also invited to partake in the Post Office Projects Performance Program, supported by the Creative Industries Grant from the City of PAE and the Kick Start Graduate Grant from Adelaide Central School of Art.
Oriana continues to push the boundaries of Afro-surrealism, contributing to its discourse and evolution within the contemporary art world. Her work not only reflects her unique cultural heritage and personal experiences but also serves as a powerful commentary on the complexities of identity and the human condition.
Where: The Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: $45 (+ booking fee)
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join artist Oriana Julie for a beading workshop where you’ll learn about Oriana’s approach to art-making while creating a unique beaded object.
This workshop is presented as part of Oriana's solo exhibition Head in the Clouds, currently showing at The Mill presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.
What to expect:
Seated within Oriana's exhibition, guests will spend two hours learning basic techniques and creating their own small-scale beaded fruit object. All materials provided, participants can take their fruit home on the day.
Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be available.
Situated on Kaurna Land in Adelaide, Oriana pioneers a visual language rooted in Afro-surrealism, leveraging imagination to embrace empowering diasporic narratives. She blends bold visual and performance artistry to spark dialogue on time, identity, and culture, transforming personal narratives into spaces of sublime escape informed by personal mythos. Her work is characterized by a fusion of African American and Italian heritage, shaped by her upbringing on an Air Force base in Woomera and the lush landscapes of the Adelaide Hills. These diverse influences create a unique exploration of cultural identity.
Oriana’s creative process is deeply connected to the sensory experiences of the body. Utilizing various mediums such as oil paint, beads, and resins, she creates immersive environments that translate embodied sensations into material expression. Inspired by Rococo, Surrealist, and Neoclassical aesthetics, her work blends symbols and motifs into a harmonious chaos.Through her innovative approach, Oriana contributes significantly to the academic and artistic discourse on Afro-surrealism and its relevance in contemporary art culture
In 2022, Oriana graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Art from Adelaide Central School of Art, earning an invitation to pursue Honours. Over the past few years, she has secured various commissions and residencies. In 2021, she participated in the Nexus Arts Studio residency, held her first solo exhibition, and engaged in a mentorship with Faye Blanche of the Unbound Collective, which enriched her artistic perspective and earned her a nomination for the Don Dunstan Foundation Award. In 2024, she was awarded the Mill Visual Arts Residency, with a solo show planned for 2025, and participated in the Post Ofiice Project’s Studio residency. She was also invited to partake in the Post Office Projects Performance Program, supported by the Creative Industries Grant from the City of PAE and the Kick Start Graduate Grant from Adelaide Central School of Art.
Oriana continues to push the boundaries of Afro-surrealism, contributing to its discourse and evolution within the contemporary art world. Her work not only reflects her unique cultural heritage and personal experiences but also serves as a powerful commentary on the complexities of identity and the human condition.
Informed by my childhood experience of always "having my head in the clouds" and being "off with the fairies," this body of work seeks to reframe this personal narrative into a space of sublime escape through spontaneous method-making, depicting a personal mythos.These moments of sublime escape explore the function of fantasy as an intrinsic tool for imagination, deeply connected to embodied feelings. In this realm of sublime escapism, I grant myself permission to delve into the depths of my being and emotions. The works can be viewed as an internal dialogue, manifesting in tactile forms.
The exhibition unfolds as an internal conversation, guided by personal mythos and translated into the tactile and material expression of embodied sensation. The sensory processes of the body are integrated into the art-making, forming an intrinsically connected environment through various mediums. In this space, distinctions between worlds and categories dissolve. Soft hues articulate a union between the characters and the spaces they inhabit. During these moments of sublime escape, the characters find solace in transcending societal constraints, becoming unapologetically empowered.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
The Visual Arts Residency is presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin
