Image: Happy Times, by Bri Hammond
January 27 - March 28, 2025
Opening: Friday January 31, 5:30-7:30pm
The Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Free entry, all welcome
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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.
Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.
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.
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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 project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
This project is supported by Arts South Australia.