public program, gallery I, gallery II

Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

Photo: Supplied.

February 15 - April 14 2022

Mads Cooke, Andrew Dearman, Evie Hassiotis and Abby Potter AKA House of Campbell

Finissage

When: Friday, April 8, 5:30pm-6:30pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

  • Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, and a disability toilet is also available. View our accessibility information page.


The Mill Showcase is a gallery space dedicated to artists who work in our studio spaces at our Angas Street location, exhibiting some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase profiles our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

This Seventh edition of The Mill Showcase features work by Mads Cooke, Evie Hassiotis and Abby Potter AKA House of Campbell.

About the artists:

  • House of Campbell was launched in 2019 by South Australian designer Abby Potter. Heavily influenced by the arts, Abby creates designs that celebrate and complement modern women, allowing them to make a statement and move effortlessly. Abby is committed to sustainable designs and pioneering techniques that allow all women to tell their story. With a background in bridal and costume design as well as production, Abby brings significant experience across design, craftsmanship and styling. Abby has presented locally, including Australian Fashion Week 2021, as well as internationally, most notably her first collection which debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2019.

    House of Campbell celebrates modern femininity. Featuring timeless and sustainable designs, House of Campbell blends couture and traditional tailoring techniques with ready to wear pieces to create something bold, intricate and unforgettable. With a focus on hidden details, our designs are created and draped in-house. These pieces make a statement and are made to last, making them a treasured addition to wardrobes today and into the future. House of Campbell’s Reverie collection features local Australian dyeing houses and is crafted by South Australian seamstresses. Our designs inspire, provoke and embolden. Rather than dictate who they should be, House of Campbell removes the rules and encourages women to be whoever they want to be. 

    Abby has been working at The Mill since 2020.

  • Mads Cooke is an Adelaide based Painter & Illustrator. Raised in the Adelaide Hills, Mads views the natural environment as a primary inspiration for her. Her work is composed of multiple layers of paint and lines to create a depth of foliage.

    Free forming shapes and colours create a soothing experience, reminding her of home and childhood memories. Drawing upon the environment, Mads’s work is commonly inspired by native flora, observed textures, colours & patterns. Natural and neutral colour hues play their part in the subtly of Mads’s work, where she creates a calming and dreamlike perspective of nature. Her practice is introspective work, and aspires the viewer to likewise engage in the meditative mood of these works.

    This body of work was created towards the end of last year, experimenting with both acrylics and ink pens in my observation of nature. The distinct use of flowing lines across these works are comparable to the candidly forming lines in the natural environment. The repetition of lines – reflective of the echoing patterns in nature.

    The lines sit both subtly in the background, or create soft organic shapes own their own. These lines are alike to ripples in water, age rings of trees, or the venation of plants. Individual lines representing little alone, collaboratively building a network, likewise of the natural world.

    I have recently been inspired by the detail of plants and flowers found in vintage botanical/ scientific illustrations. In my paintings I enjoy creating a similar style to these, in which the flora is depicted very flat and straight on, paying close attention on the finer details.

    Mads has been working at The Mill since 2021.

  • Andrew Dearman’s practice has varied over the years, moving from sculpture to painting to photography and back again.

    More recently I’m working on a hybrid art/academic research method that I find meaningful as a form of making. The construction of a conference paper is both a physical and conceptual process of gathering material, of shaping and polishing it into a particular form, which is then performed in front of strangers on the other side of the planet.

    The current work involves the use of the found vernacular photograph within contemporary art. It considers such use problematic and in need of deeper theoretical consideration from positions beyond the discourse of visual art. The fields that seem to be of most use are memory studies, sociology and anthropology.

    Andrew is an Alumni Artist.

  • For the last three years Evie Hassiotis has produced a variety of mixed media artwork while being a resident artist at the Mill. During this time she has held a SALA exhibition called Xenitia (exile) exploring her journey from Greece in the early 1960’s. She has also been attending mainly portrait workshops at ACSA and attending life drawing sessions on a regular basis at Gallery one. She loves to run small workshops in her studio for adults and children where participants can learn the basic skills of using various materials and also tap into creative expression.

    In my practice I am excited to see how art can transform a person and a place. I love art that challenges me and asks questions about the philosophy of life.

    In these latest art works I have experimented with the circular design, which has been a tool to let go of old patterns of behaviour about pleasing others. Working fast allows me to tap into my right brain and allow free flow and spontaneity.

    Evie has been working at The Mill since 2019.

emerging producer

Emerging Producer Xchange: Announcing the successful 2022 recipient

We're excited to announce Louie Dempsey as the 2022 Associate of the Emerging Producer Xchange.

The Emerging Producer Xchange is a flagship mentorship program by Metro Arts with the support of The Ian Potter Foundation and Arts SA. Between January – November, Louie will support the delivery of The Mill’s annual artistic programs, supporting artists in the creation, presentation and touring of new work.

  • Louie Dempsey is an emerging producer based in Kaurna Yarta/Adelaide. She currently works at the Starlight Children’s Foundation, entertaining and facilitating positive distractions for children in hospitals and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Community Clinics on Kaurna Land in South Australia.

    With a background of dance and performing arts, she has experience developing and presenting workshops for youth at UrbanMyth, OnStage and independently to have a safe space to explore art while also creating connections. At Starlight she has curated art workshops and displays that highlight the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, as well as working on accessibility training programs for Captain Starlights that highlight inclusive art and sensory play.

    Currently studying Global Community Health, she is interested in encouraging the growth of accessibility and diversity in multidisciplinary arts.

    Louie was The Mill’s 2020 Fringe Venue Manager. 

Photo: Daniel Marks.

public program, gallery I

Exhibition: Adrianne Semmens & Jennifer Eadie, Unravel

Photo: Supplied by the artists.

February 15 - April 14, 2022

Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

Livestream Performance

When: Tuesday, April 12, 6pm online via The Mill's Youtube channel

Cost: Free, bookings essential

  • Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.


The Mill welcomes South Australian based artist and writer Jennifer Eadie and dance practitioner, Adrianne Semmens to present their collaborative project Unravel. Bringing together their distinct practices, Jennifer and Adrianne have developed a sensitive and reciprocal working relationship. The work is multidisciplinary and lends itself to re-configuration and re-generation, with this instance unfolding within the context of The Mill’s Exhibition Space. Poetry, movement, fabric and plant materials stand in relation to each other, exploring what it is to see, feel and consider self and place.

  • If place is understood as something lived/ how do we speak of

    it/ without causing a fracture?

    There is vulnerability when we

    say: I too am part of that place/

    too many colours/ it is not

    something that can be held/ always unravelling.

    The body of work in this exhibition explores relationship to place.  Embedded in the work is our acknowledgment of Country, always aware that our practice and processes are created on and with Kaurna Yarta.  

     What if authentic relationship to place is an act of opening that fractures a stable sense of identity? What tensions that arise when we, with mixed heritage, attempt to articulate a sense of connection or belonging to land that is not our ancestral country.   

    Any attempt to enact this connection or belonging demands an acceptance that we will be constantly giving, losing, reorientating ourselves in order to negotiate - make meaningful, make respectful - this relationship with country that is not ours. 

    UNRAVEL responds to these questions indirectly, as a means of acknowledging the difficulty and complexity of not being able to articulate a resolute response to the themes, despite being so important to us.

    The exhibition is grounded by natural elements and textiles as a gesture, hands outwards, continuing lineage to country. 

  • Unravel is a collaboration between South Australian based artist and writer Jennifer Eadie and dance practitioner, Adrianne Semmens. Jennifer and Adrianne were recently awarded a Delving into Dance/Critical Path Commission (2020), and undertook a collaborative Breakout Residency at The Mill (2020/21).

    Jennifer Eadie is a writer, academic and artist living on Kaurna Yarta in South Australia. She grew up on Taribelang Bunda Country and has European-mongrel heritage. Her creative practice is interdisciplinary and place-based. Her collaborative work with Adrianne Semmens explores the relationship between identity and place. Her individual practice is motivated by the capacity of post-invasion Australia to censor the multiple histories, agencies and stories that are embedded in place. Via text,  installation and performance, her work aims to respond to and undermine this censorship. Jennifer's work has been shared with TEXT Journal, CORDITE, criticalpath, Educational Philosophy and Theory, The Mill and Kudos Gallery: jennifereadie.cargo.site | @vito_the_saint_of_lost_dogs

    Adrianne Semmens is a dance practitioner and descendant of the Barkindji People of NSW. Explorations of identity and place continue to be recurring themes within her practice, evident within her own work and ongoing collaboration with Jennifer Eadie. Choreographic highlights include Immerse, commissioned by Australian Dance Theatre whilst Adrianne was the company’s 2021 Associate Artist, and Thread (2020). Adrianne works closely with Tjarutja Dance Theatre Collective led by Gina Rings and has enjoyed performing in Inma, Our Corka Bubs and the 2021 Tarnanthi Festival opening event. Adrianne continues to be engaged in many education and community projects, such as co-founding the First Nations Choreographic Lab in 2021 and previous role with The Australian Ballet as a Dance Presenter for their Education Ensemble:  adriannesemmens.com | @adrianne.l.semmens

Photo: Daniel Marks.

 

Unravel is supported by City of Adelaide

 

The Mill is supported by the South Australian government through Arts South Australia.

 

virtual gallery

Virtual Gallery: CHARTS Community Housing Arts Awards South Australia

In January 2022, The Mill was thrilled to open our 2022 Visual Arts program with the CHARTS Awards exhibition, a celebration of the inaugural Community Housing Arts Awards, South Australia. Created to celebrate and showcase the creative diversity, and depth of talent within tenants of community and social housing, the exhibition features painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and writing.

Hover over installation images below to find out more about the artworks, and watch the recording of the livestreamed opening event, with commentary from Access2Place housing officer Luke Wilcox and Art Gallery of South Australia’s Contemporary Art Curator Leigh Robb.

(Images below: Sam Roberts)

Image: Elaine Roberts, Elvis in the arty.

CHARTS is a joint project between seven different Community Housing Providers. It was established in 2020 to celebrate and showcase the art being made by tenants of community and social housing. CHARTS aims to provide opportunities for artists living in community housing to exhibit their work, build their skills and establish networks. It seeks to encourage them to keep making and to legitimise their practice, or be the point from which they launch their own art career. The works in this exhibition are all the finalists, as chosen by our independent panel of practicing artists who judged the CHARTS awards for us.

public program, emerging producer 2022, fringe festival

Adelaide Fringe: The Breakout 2022 program

The Breakout is a versatile black box theatre. Expect everything from theatre to circus, comedy, live music & more. This year, we will be playing host to shows from across Australia. Take a look through our program list below or browse our shows via Adelaide Fringe

Proof of vaccination is required to enter The Mill until March 21, 2022. Read our Covid-19 policy.

The Mill is an accessible space. Disability access is available via Angas St, and a disability toilet is also available. If you have any questions or additional accessibility requirements, please contact us at info@themilladelaide.com

The Breakout at The Mill

 
 
 
 

masterclass series, public program, workshop, fringe workshop

Adelaide Fringe Online Workshop: Telling your own story through clowning with Hew Parham

Photo: Trantino Priori

Details

When: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 10am-12pm 

Where: Live streamed on Zoom for you to participate in from your home

Cost: $15 (+ booking fees)

Any cancellations due to Covid-19, tickets will be refunded


About the workshop:

This workshop will explore the medium of clowning and autobiographical theatre, how to use ideas inspired by your life but use the clown, metaphors and games in order to present these events in a playful and safe way. The workshop will explore the foundations of clown with exercises and play, the participants will be lead through intuitive and stream of consciousness writing exercises to find moments from their lives, we will then workshop playful and inventive ways we could present these events.

Experience level:

Any creative artists, especially focusing on those interested in clowning, theatre, but dance and other approaches very welcome.

  • Hew Parham is a graduate of Flinders University Drama Centre. In 2007 Hew was the recipient of the Neil Curnow Award where he trained at The Hunter Gates Academy of physical theatre in Edmonton Canada and in the Pochinko Clowning Method at The Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance (MCCP) in Ontario, Canada. Hew has also trained with British Physical Comedy troupe Spymonkey in London, England and Italian clown Giovanni Fusetti. 

    Hew has developed several solo shows with his comedic characters such as: Giovanni which played at the New York Clown Theatre Festival, The Wonderland Festival in Brisbane and The Adelaide Fringe Festival; Odyssey Schmodyssey which played at the Sangeunay Arts Festival, Quebec Canada; Rudi’s The Rinse Cycle which played at The Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He also performed in the Kurt Weill dedication performance The Weill File. In 2019 Hew once again performed in The Cabaret Festival with British company Flabberghast Theatre in their show The Swell Mob. He has also created the hyperactive twins The Riddalin Brothers with Callan Fleming which performed at The Adelaide Fringe Festival. 

    Hew has travelled extensively with Melbourne based company Bunk Puppets to tour their show Sticks Stones Broken Bones to countries such as Norway, Germany and China. Other credits includes: Me and My Shadow (Patch Theatre Company); Boo (Windmill Theatre Company); Superheroes (Stone/Castro); Blister by Sarah Peters (Holden Street Theatres); and If you can learn to fake authenticity you have it made by Rebecca Meston, (Feltspace). 

    He has also directed a number of shows including Egg (Erin Fowler, Adelaide Fringe) Chameleon (Frank Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Rumpus); Moof’s Adventures (Backporch Theatre, Adelaide Fringe); Dead Gorgeous (Madness of Two, Adelaide Fringe Festival) and Light Minded (AC Arts). 

    hewparhamcom.wordpress.com 


Hew Parham will be presenting A Not So Trivial Pursuit for The Mill's 2022 Adelaide Fringe program.

virtual gallery

Virtual Gallery: Hussain Alismail, In search of a good laugh

In June 2021, The Mill welcomed Hussain Alismail to undertake a residency as part of our Sponsored Studio program. The outcome of this residency was a new exhibition, In search of a good laugh, presented in our Showcase gallery in November-December 2021. The Mill’s Sponsored Studio is a new initiative supported by Drs Geoff and Sorayya Martin, and an anonymous philanthropist beginning in 2021.

(Images below: Daniel Marks)

Image: Hussain Alismail, courtesy of the artist.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by an interview I recently watched where visitors to an art exhibition were asked: ‘What you are looking for in this exhibition?’ One visitor answered ‘I don’t know! Maybe a good laugh!’ This answer struck me, and took me back to ten years ago when I worked as a cartoonist at KFUPM newspaper (a university publication in Saudi Arabia), where my art work attempted to generate laughter about the hardest issues faced by students. Since then, my work has shifted to become more abstracted and conceptual, however, I believe laughter is a worthwhile pursuit. This exhibition may not be overtly comedic, but I would like to invite audiences to consider the work through a lens where it can be both serious, conceptual and parodical.

-Hussain Alismail

Artist statement

As much as identity defines who we are, our culture and morals; it is always a challenge to prevent misconception, misrepresentation and misjudgment. This challenge and other issues like belonging, individualism, autonomy, gender tension make no identity idle. Through In search of a good laugh I explore the possibilities of identity within a Saudi/Middle Eastern and Australian context.

Over the past few years, I have been working with the significant visual elements that represent Arab people, creating an abstract visual catalogue of identity. The artworks suggest the colourful shapes and patterns that speak truly about Arabic diversity and culture.

Image: Blend In, 2021, photographic digital prints on fine art paper, dimensions variable, image courtesy of the artist.

‘In search of a good laugh’ at The Mill’s annual Donor Circle event (Photos: Dylan Minchenberg).

masterclass series, public program

Adelaide Festival Masterclass: Performance Making with a Personal Narrative with Emma Beech

Photo: Paul Malek.

Details

When: Thursday, March 10, 2022, 11:30am-1:30pm

Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St (enter via Gunson St), Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide)

Cost: $30 (+ booking fees)

Any cancellations due to Covid-19, tickets will be refunded

Please note participants will need to be fully vaccinated to attend. Please have your vaccination certificate ready to check in to the masterclass. you will not be permitted entry without it.


The Mill in partnership with Adelaide Festival present a masterclass with Emma Beech (SA).

Performance Making with a Personal Narrative – a workshop that will explore the selection, performance techniques and the ethics of writing and performing with a personal narrative.  

About the masterclass:

This workshop will best suit theatre artists, performance artists, interdisciplinary artists, visual artists, writers and poets, but will be open to anyone with a developing or well honed professional artistic practice.  There will be time for questions.  Bring a story from your life, big or small, and be prepared to explore it. 

Experience level:

This masterclass is for theatre artists, performance artists, interdisciplinary artists, visual artists, writers and poets.

  • Emma Beech graduated from Flinders Drama Centre in 2000 and has worked in theatre and screen establishing a practice developing theatre shows from conversations with strangers, talking about subjects from the sad to the sublime. Emma was a resident artist with immersive theatre company Carte Blanche in Denmark from 2006 to 2004, set-up by visual arts and theatre practitioner, Sara Jenson. There, Emma co-developed and performed in six of Carte Blanche’s new works.

    Emma has worked with The Last Tuesday Society, Real TV, Patch, Monkey Baa, Playwriting Australia, Arts House, Open Space Contemporary Arts, State Theatre Company South Australia, The Rabble, and has an on-going relationship with Vitalstatistix who developed and produced Saskia Falls. She has participated in several Adhocracy festivals, and her 2016 work with the company, Life is Short and Long, an investigation into the GFC in Barcelona, Spain & Wirrabara, South Australia, was a significant production for Vitals.  In 2017, Emma was Vitalstatistix’s resident artist, and in 2018 she had a residency with State Theatre Company South Australia before performing in their 2019 season of Jasper Jones.

    Emma is a proud founding member of the Australian Bureau of Worthiness, with Tessa Leong and James Dodd, a residency model that creates theatre from interviews conducted with people on the street, asking ‘What makes your day worth it?’ The ABW has now met nine towns, the last being I Met Gumeracha in 2018. 

public program, gallery I

Exhibition: CHARTS Community Housing Arts Awards South Australia

Artwork: Annette Cassano, Self portrait, me and art.

January 11 - 28, 2022

Opening event: January 14, 6-7pm

Where: Livestream

Cost: Free

  • Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.


The Mill is thrilled to open our 2022 Visual Arts program with the CHARTS prize exhibition, a celebration of the inaugural Community Housing Arts Awards, South Australia. Created to celebrate and showcase the creative diversity, and depth of talent within tenants of community and social housing, the exhibition features painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and writing.

The CHARTS exhibition will feature a curated selection of work by finalists, on display to the public in The Mill’s two galleries. The prize received 170 submissions across eight Community Housing Providers, with artworks from established, mid-career and emerging artists, and those who have never picked up a paintbrush, pencil or camera in their life! The CHART awards night was held at Adelaide Town Hall on 11 November 2021, with each winner receiving a cash prize of $500 made possible by the generous donation from CHARTS major sponsors Harvey Norman Commercial and Electrolux.

Artists include Lily Abbott, Alissa, Rex Stuart Anderson, Leagh Bassham, Karen Beale, Sabrina Belfiore, Naomi Blake, Maxine Cannon, Annette Cassano, Annette Chand, Susan Cocks, Belinda Cole, Craig Finnis, Annie Fox, Lloyd Jackson, Caitlin Lenartowicz, Amanda MacLeod, Robert Martin, Chevon McKenzie, Amber Jayne Mills, Rosemary Milton, Anna Mohammadkarimi, Peter Pasfield, Jhalakman Rai, Elaine Roberts, Joy Sadauskas, Yonah Singira, Drew Sinton, Frankie Starling, Coral Strempel, Zachary Studley and Leonard Yarnold.

  • CHARTS is a joint project between seven different Community Housing Providers. It was established in 2020 to celebrate and showcase the art being made by tenants of community and social housing. CHARTS aims to provide opportunities for artists living in community housing to exhibit their work, build their skills and establish networks. It seeks to encourage them to keep making and to legitimise their practice, or be the point from which they launch their own art career. The works in this exhibition are all the finalists, as chosen by our independent panel of practicing artists who judged the CHARTS awards for us.


 
 

The Mill is supported by the South Australian government through Arts South Australia.

 

masterclass series, public program

Adelaide Festival Masterclass: Choreography with Stephanie Lake


Three dancers are mingled together, their arms entwined as they look at the camera fiercely.

Photo: Paul Malek

Details

When: Friday, March 18, 2022, 2pm-3.30pm (venue will be open for warm up 15 minutes early, please arrive for time to sign in)

Where: Dance Hub SA, Level 1, Lion Arts Centre, Cnr Morphett St & North Tce, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide)

Cost: $30 (+ booking fees)

Any cancellations due to Covid-19, tickets will be refunded

Please note participants will need to be fully vaccinated to attend. Please have your vaccination certificate ready to check in to the masterclass. you will not be permitted entry without it.


Choreography with Stephanie Lake - a workshop about dance creation and collaboration

About the masterclass:

This masterclass will include a physical warm-up and a series of tasks, improvisations and choreographic stimulations that will introduce participants to the ways in which Stephanie develops her works in collaboration with dancers. The masterclass will include learning a short excerpt from Manifesto, creation, observation, games and sharing.

Experience level:

Professional level dancers, choreographers, performers and advanced level high school dance students.

About the masterclass facilitator:

Stephanie smiles, she wears a black top and her hair over her shoulder.

Stephanie Lake

Stephanie Lake Company is a multi-award winning contemporary dance company based in Melbourne. Known for a gutsy, original choreographic style and striking visual aesthetic, Stephanie Lake Company’s recent works include Colossus, Skeleton Tree, Replica and Pile of Bones.

Working in collaboration with Australia’s leading dancers and designers, the company has been presented in major festivals and venues around Australia and has toured internationally to France, Germany, Hong Kong, Denmark, Singapore and the UK. Stephanie Lake has won two Australian Dance Awards for Most Outstanding Choreography (Pile of Bones and AORTA), the Helpmann Award for Outstanding Choreography (A Small Prometheus) and the Green Room Award for Best Choreography (Mix Tape). She is a recipient of the Australia Council Fellowship for Dance and a past recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship and the Peggy Van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship.

The company collaborates across theatre, film, music video, opera and visual art and has created several large-scale projects for over fifteen hundred participants. 

Photo: Zan Wimberley

virtual gallery

Virtual Gallery: City Mobilities 2021

City Mobilities was a three-day intensive that explored ideas about the way we access and move in public spaces, supported by City of Adelaide. This was a follow-up workshop, building on the first workshops in 2020 and 2021.

Over the three days, participants worked with lead artists Tom Borgas (The Mill resident artist) and Paul Gazzola (OSCA Artistic Director) to explore how they could rethink and reconfigure the city’s infrastructure into other forms and functionalities.

This was an opportunity for participants to expand and develop their initial ideas into something more developed and considered, explore new ideas and further establish collaborative connections with like-minded peers and colleagues.

“This was an excellent workshop. I found the process that we were guided through led to everyone presenting interesting ideas a activities. This has definitely informed how I will approach generating ideas in my own arts practice going forward.”

Photos: Morgan Sette

 

City Mobilities is an ongoing initiative between The Mill and OSCA, supported by the City of Adelaide Strategic Partnership program.

 

writers in residence, scotch college residency

Writer in Residence 2022: Renee Miller

The Mill is thrilled to announce Renee Miller as the recipient of the City Mag 2022 Writer in Residence January-June residency.

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.


Renee smiles, looking into the distance. She wears glasses and is standing in front of the ocean.

About the writer:

Renee is an emerging queer writer and a lifelong resident of Adelaide. Her focus is on creative writing, but she is passionate about all forms of art and writing. 

To grow her writing practice, she studied a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing, sub-majoring in Cultural Studies at UniSA.

She went on to complete her honours, combining the knowledge from both of her fields of prior study. She has contributed Writing from Below and UniSA’s Piping Shrike collection.

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sponsored studio, public program, sponsored studio recipien

MMF Sponsored Studio 2022: Viray Thach

The Mill is thrilled to announce Viray Thach as the recipient of the Sponsored Studio for the January-June 2022 residency. The Mill’s Sponsored Studio is a new initiative supported by the Mahmood Martin Foundation. In 2022 two selected artists will join our community, with each receiving 6-months of studio space and an exhibition outcome as part of The Mill Showcase.


Digital painting of a woman with patterns in the background.

Viray Thach, ‘Essence of Apsara’ digital painting, image courtesy of the artist

Exhibition: Resilience, Viray Thach
July 18 - September 16, 2022

Opening event: Friday, July 29, 6-8pm

Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

Accessibility: Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more on our accessibility page.


During SALA 2022 The Mill's Showcase space hosts Resilience, a solo exhibition by illustrator and educator Viray Thach. The exhibition elevates the voices of sexual assault survivors and opens conversations of the commonly misunderstood topic. Viray showcases her skills as a digital illustrator, as well as exploring new techniques developed through her six month studio residency at The Mill. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue essay written by The Mill's Writer in Residence Renee Miller.


 About the artist:

Viray stands in front of plants, she wears a leopard print top and black dress, and glasses.

Viray Thach

Viray Thach is an emerging digital illustrator and educator. Her style, inspired by pop art, art deco and art nouveau, also sees deep-rooted influences from traditional Kbach ornamental designs that pay homage to her Cambodian roots. Viray’s iPad is the digital sketchbook where all the magic happens. Here, she marries the old and the new, using cybernation to recreate time-honoured textures and techniques into tactile designs that evoke a warm, homely compassion.

Formally educated in graphic design, business management and education, Viray is not only dedicated to her role as an illustrator, but as an educator and mentor, cultivating young minds and passing her multi-creative knowledge on to creative visionaries of the next generation. She remains business-minded and efficient while still delivering work full of the heart and soul.

At the root of it, Viray uses her art to tell a story – whether that is through character-rich portraits, lively illustrations, or bringing her mind’s eye to life through magnificent murals.


Artwork by Viray Thach.

SALA Workshop: Illustration and lino printing with Viray Thach

When: Sunday August 22 and , 12-4pm

Where: The Mill’s Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: early bird $30 +bf (limited places)

full price $40+bf



If you're looking for an opportunity to be creative, join Viray for an illustration and lino print workshop. This beginners workshop will introduce skills in preparing a design, carving lino and printing, and all participants will take home finished artworks.

Held in The Mill’s exhibition space alongside Viray’s solo exhibition Resilience, the workshop will be intimate and casual and is open to complete beginners.


 

The Mill’s Sponsored Studio program is presented in co-operation with Mahmood Martin Foundation.

 
 

writers in residence, scotch college residency

Writer in Residence 2022: Piri Eddy

The Mill is thrilled to announce Piri Eddy as the recipient of the City Mag 2022 Writer in Residence July-December residency.

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.

A grant from Arts SA supports Piri’s engagement with The Mill.


Piri stands in front of a metal wire fence, he has a beard and wears an open jacket.

About the writer:

Piri Eddy is an award-winning playwright, writer, screenwriter, and producer living and working on Kaurna country.

His work has been produced for Radio National and published in such places as Westerly Magazine, Island, and Australian Book Review. Piri won the 2020 Jill Blewett Playwrights Award for his one-act play Forgiveness, which premiered at RUMPUS in 2021. 

Find out more: pirithewriter.com

Twitter: @piri_eddy

Image credit: Johanis Lyons-Reid

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breakout showing, public program

Breakout Showing: FLESHSOUP, 'TERRAIN_001'


Andrew dances, his hand cupping his chin tenderly.

Photographer: Alexander Waite Mitchell

Public showing

When: Friday, December 3, 3:45pm for a 4pm start

Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

Duration: 1 hour

Accessibility: Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, there is a ramp into The Breakout and no internal steps. There is also a disability toilet. View our accessibility information page.


This new immersive experience looks into transhumanism and post-human sociology, the work dives into a world where we explore how to create performance art in a sci-fi landscape.

For us, this is an exploration into creating an atmospheric world for the audience to be transported into. The conceptual ideologies are merely a vessel for us to explore new methodologies of creating when looking at pushing the boundaries of what ‘dance’ can be.

The full-length work will be presented in Queens Theatre in June 2022, this showing at The Mill will be a sketch, a draft and an exploration into what is possible when creating a cerebral experience through movement and atmosphere. 


Thanks to City of Adelaide Quick Response Grant Funding for supporting this residency.

About the artist:

Directing this production is FLESHSOUP, composed of Andrew Barnes and Lily May Potger. We created FLESHSOUP in early 2021 to initiate a community platform for young freelancers in Adelaide to create, share and seek alternative avenues of performing, beyond traditional funding routes. Culminating our experience from training and working in the mainstream and underground dance scenes of London and the freelance industries of both Perth and Adelaide, we have refined our practice and executions as a team. These experiences have brought us to push for more and bring Adelaide an aspect of the wider arts community that is embedded in excellence, youth, experimentalism, and community.

Open Studio Day

Wednesday, December 1, details to come

EOI’s to attend: info@themilladelaide.com

masterclass series, public program

Workshop: City Mobilities

City Mobilities is an intensive temporary public art workshop exploring ideas about the way we access, move, and engage in public spaces. City Mobilities is an ongoing initiative between The Mill and OSCA, supported by the City of Adelaide Strategic Partnership program.

In December 2021, lead artists Paul Gazzola and Tom Borgas will facilitate a follow-up City Mobilities workshop, building on the first workshops in 2020 and 2021. It will be an opportunity for participants to expand and develop their initial ideas into something more developed and considered, explore new ones, and further establish collaborative connections with liked-minded peers and colleagues. 

It will take the format of a 3-day workshop at The Mill’s Breakout plus a public showing of outcomes in and around The Mill vicinity. The public showing is an opportunity to gather some broader feedback but also to see how we may develop a range of works for a future event. 

Key dates:

When: December 6 to 9, 2021, 10am - 4pm daily

Public Showing: December 9, 11am to 3pm, If you would like to register your interest for the public showing please email Marketing & Communications Manager Chloe Metcalfe

Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide)

breakout showing, centre stage residency, public program

Breakout Residencies: Paper Mouth Theatre showing, 'YOU’RE ALL INVITED TO MY SON SAMUEL’S FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY'


Caitlin holds a birthday cake and wears a party hat, they sit beside Yoz.

Public showing

When: Friday, November 19, 3.45pm sharp for a 4pm start

Where: The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (enter via The Exhibition Space)

Cost: Free

Duration: 1 hour

Accessibility: Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, there is a ramp into The Breakout and no internal steps. There is also a disability toilet. View our accessibility information page.


The Mill’s Centre Stage Residency will progress a new work presented by Paper Mouth Theatre to its next stage of development, including a work-in-progress public showing and culminating in a season at The Mill as part of Adelaide Fringe 2022.

Anchored within the suburban sphere of an outer-space-themed-fourth-birthday-party, this work transcends a cycle of time, spanning the Big Bang to the end of an entropying universe.

Narrated by Samuel’s Mother and Father, this work positions the audience as the unseen (but ever-present) birthday boy, SAMUEL.

Amidst melting ice cream cakes, decimated piñatas, a dying planet, and a rocket ship to Mars, SAMUEL is forced to reckon with the ever-present question: “who do I hold accountable?”

This program is presented with support from Adelaide Fringe Artist Fund.

Due to venue capacity restrictions, we ask you only book a ticket if you are able to attend. All attendees must be aware of our hygiene policy before attending our venue.

About the artist:

Caitlin Ellen Moore (she/they) will be creatively producing YOU’RE ALL INVITED TO MY SON SAMUEL’S FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY alongside writer and lead performer Mary Angley (she/they), and performer, composer and projection designer Dan Thorpe (he/him).

Videography: Sunny Side Uploads

Call Out: Citymag Writer in Residence 2022

The Mill’s 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.

Two 6-month residencies in The Mill’s CBD studios are offered per year, culminating in three pieces of commissioned writing per recipient and support from CityMag and The Mill. The program aims to assist emerging writers develop connections and explore opportunities to collaborate with The Mill’s community.

Work funded under this program may include, but is not limited to; creative essays, creative nonfiction and storytelling, artist profiles and response to art and exhibitions.

The first residency for 2022 will run January to June, with the second running July to December.

Take a look at 2021 recipients Tanner Muller and James Murphy.

Applications open: Wednesday, November 3, 9am

Applications close: Sunday, November 28, midnight

Applicants notified: Friday, December 3, COB

About the mentor:

CityMag editor Johnny von Einem will provide writing and editing mentorship for 1 hour each month over the 6 month residency. This mentorship will build the recipients’ skills, and culminate in publication on CityMag’s website to boost their profile and portfolio.

CityMag is a once weekly digital edition and quarterly print edition that focuses on Adelaide’s growth, daily habits and the people within the city.

Established in 2013, the publication was acquired by Solstice Media in 2018; sitting beside publications InDaily and SALIFE. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

virtual gallery

Virtual Gallery: Lilla Berry, STRNG WMN for Tarnanthi 2021

In June-September 2021, The Mill welcomed Yankunytjatjara woman, multidisciplinary artist Lilla Berry to undertake a residency in our studios supported by City of Adelaide. The outcome of this residency was a new exhibition, STNRG WMN, presented in our gallery for Tarnanthi 2021. Lilla has collaborated with strong women, including Pearl Berry, Iteka Ukarla, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Mali Isabel, Amber Ahang, Kirsty Williams and Morgan Sette.

(Images below: Morgan Sette)

Image: Lilla Berry in the Exhibition Space, Photo Morgan Sette.

Image: Lilla Berry and Mali Isabel in conversation with The Mill’s Adele Sliuzas. Photo Morgan Sette.

Artist statement

The arts have always been embedded into my life. My family is made up of musicians and visual artists, and practicing art was something I just did when I was younger. Although using my body seemed to be one of the things I enjoyed most, whether that was dancing or acrobatics. As I got older and more influenced by others around me, the inherent idea that I was an artist shifted and changed. My practice moved towards a dance focus, as this was what I had the greatest opportunity to practice. However, as I’ve continued to develop as an arts worker, I’ve been able to tap into the other areas of my practice and continue to develop my skills across a range of mediums, and now have the confidence to articulate myself as a multi-disciplinary artist. Even if each discipline doesn’t get the same amount of my attention, they are equally as important and rewarding for me to practice.

STRNG WMN. will explore what it means to be strong Aboriginal women. Including culturally, physically and mentally. I have always been surrounded by strong women growing up. I was raised by a single mother, and as an athlete all of my team mates were strong women, being strong role models. And growing up watching other young Aboriginal woman dancing with Kurruru, I was so inspired by their strength in culture.

Through working with my community, I will take the lived experiences of other women to inform movement to be captured on film, still images and installation. I want to capture the authentic voices of our community, and explore all the ways we as women find strength, as it comes in all different types of forms.

⏤ Lilla Berry

 
 
 
 

public program, gallery I

Exhibition: Frances Cohen, curated by Christina Lauren 'The Many Faces of Frances'


Acrylic painting with collaged features depicting the loss of a treasured pet.

Image: Self Portrait Without Daisy, 2021, acrylic, gap filler and collage on canvas, 1020 x 760mm.

November 8 - December 17, 2021

Opening event: November 26, 6-8pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

Accessibility: Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.


The Mill welcomes emerging artist Frances Cohen and their new exhibition The Many Faces of Frances, curated by emerging curator Christina Lauren.

Drawing on identity politics, and underpinned by theories of the self, Frances’ portraiture explores what it is to know and to understand the complexity of one’s self. Frances uses found images alongside photographic selfies layered with thick paint and gap filler to create a textural surface where features of the portraits are obscured, slipping and displaced. The works are uncanny, evocative and emotional, conveying a sense of uncertainty and heaviness while also appealing to the empathetic recognition of the viewer, eliciting the question who is this portrait of, could it be me?

Frances and curator Christina Lauren have worked together to present this exhibition which invites audiences to consider conceptual underpinnings alongside Frances’ use of material and process. Within this, they have generously opened a discussion around mental illness, and in particular Borderline Personality Disorder, which Frances speaks about from a personal perspective.

Artist Statement
It’s hardly a ground-breaking revelation to say that all of us comprise a pastiche of everyone we’ve ever met. It is a well-known cliché that we are shaped by those around us, moulded through interactions with others that inform our worldview and our tastes. What is generally implied by this notion is that we have one overarching sense of who we are, with certain aspects of our personality being in flux as we move through life and have different experiences. I have always struggled to hold down my sense of self. I feel like I have been many different people to many different people; a different character tailored to each new audience member, worn like a mask. With that said, basic empathy also affords us the knowledge that each of us has their own mask; a face they present to the world that has been forged from a lifetime of hurt feelings and awkward encounters. I just seem to have accumulated a lot of them. Every character I’ve played has their own mask, forged through different lifetimes of impulsivity and self-destruction. Often it feels like I am wearing multiple at once; like I am staring out at the world around me from behind multiple numb layers of cracked plaster. Each of these paintings is a self-portrait. I am at the core of each one, hiding underneath the layers I find easier to heap upon myself, rather than deal with.

Curatorial Statement
'The Many Faces of Frances' unearths a truly vulnerable series of self-portraits created Frances Cohen. The series explores Frances' warped sense of self-image, where each painting seeks to survey the idea of a constructed personality, and complex emotions. Frances' diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder often presents within the work as a construction of different personas, which she says 'alter my outward appearance to try and hide the gaps in my personality'.

Frances’ portraits resonate deeply with the viewer through a balance of familiarity and alienness. The viewer recognises themselves in the self-portraits through universal feelings of sadness, numbness, anger and a sense of being lost. Frances' ability to capture sadness, particularly within the eyes of each portrait, is a stand-out feature. Where most painters use the eyes to promote connection and recognition, Frances paints exclusively around them. This provides a novel view, almost reversing the mirror of the portrait and asking the viewer to look outwards rather than within. What image do they project? What mask do they paint on top, to hide their painful depth?

Portraiture has long provided a relationship between ones-self and the subject, allowing for reassurance of some of our most difficult feelings. In a time of great uncertainty, it is natural to search for what it means to be human and what it means to have human experiences. The Many Faces of Frances seeks to do just this, while also fighting against the stigma of mental health, in particular Borderline Personality Disorder, which remains one of the most misunderstood diagnoses. Frances’ portraits provide insight into the disorder, challenging preconceived perceptions, and giving audiences the opportunity to recognise how emotions felt by those with Borderline Personality Disorder are not so far from their own.

Artist Biography
Frances Cohen is a painter living and working on Kaurna Yarta. She attended the University of South Australia, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art in 2020 and completed her honours year in 2021. She has previously exhibited work in Two Factor Authentication (2021), A Quarter Turn Around the Sun (2020), Friends (2019) and has contributed work to UniSA’s annual Art on Campus exhibition. She has also been published in Regurgitate (2021), Non-Compliant Quarterly (2019) and numerous editions of Verse magazine.

Curator Biography
Christina Lauren is an emerging curator and currently the Carclew Resident curator, as part of their 2021 Sharehouse program. Graduating a Bachelor of Contemporary Art in 2019, Christina implements her experience and knowledge as a visual artist into her curatorial practices, as well as allowing her passion for arts theory to guide her. She is a multi-media artist, currently working mostly in oil paint, exploring notions of the human condition and mental health. Christina has worked previously as a curator through City of Adelaide’s Emerging Curator program supported by Carclew in 2019, as well as launching a collaborative arts music project with Bad Habits Events in 2019, ‘Blossom Art Space’. Christina began her residency at Carclew in 2020, and has continued through to 2021. 

Christina has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including ‘Unwearable’ at Cloister Workrooms, Kaurna Land 2017, ‘Art on Campus’ in the West Oak Hotel, Kaurna Land 2018, 'Inevitable’ in Carclew House Foyer, Kaurna Land 2019, University of South Australia’s ‘Art on Campus’, Kaurna Land, 2019 and Mindshare SA’s ‘Mindshare 2021 Exhibition’, Adelaide City Library, 2021. Christina was awarded the 2021 SALA Contemporary Curator Award for her curatorial role in ‘Refractions’ at Carclew.

Painting of a woman using acrylic and collage to depict a self-portrait.

Image: Frances Cohen, Core Memory, 2020, mixed media on MDF, 46cm x 60cm Photo: courtesy of the artist

The Mill is an accessible space. Disability access is available via Angas St, and a disability toilet is also available. If you have any questions or additional accessibility requirements, please contact us at info@themilladelaide.com


The Mill's 2021 artistic program is proudly supported by BankSA Foundation.

The Mill is supported by the South Australian government through Arts South Australia.