When: Friday, August 30, 3:30-4:40pm and 6:30-7:40pm
Where: The Breakout at The Mill, 154 Angas Street, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: $10 (+ 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 us for the first Breakout Makes showing, showcasing three local artists in a fun and intimate variety show.
Breakout Makes is a new pilot program designed to provide artists with a regular platform for sharing newly developed work with audiences.
Aiming to build an open and inclusive community of makers across different disciplines and to bring audiences into the process of making new work, encouraging them to value the ‘blood, sweat and tears’ that goes into creating a performance.
About the artists:
A performing arts maker for 30 years, Jo specialises in theatre that’s comical, musical, interactive and provocative.
Prolific in her output, invention and creativity, she has produced short films/video, full length theatre pieces, solo/duo cabaret acts & full length shows, comic pieces, roving characters, songs, clown theatre shows, workshop series, workplace performance content, music theatre.
Founding member of Restless Dance Company and Slack Taxi, Artistic Director of No Strings Attached for 5 years, she has trained with master teachers OS and has an ADV DIP in screenwriting.
Jo aims to make works that connect, explore and celebrate what it means to be human.
Dalmas Otieno is a 39 year old contemporary dance artist born and raised in Kenya. He began his dance career in 2006 with Pamoja dance group. Pamoja dance group consists of mixed ability dancers with and without disabilities. Able?...Disabled?...Differently abled.
With Pamoja dance group, Dalmas won the US Embassy diversity and culture dance competition award in 2010
Dalmas has featured in different productions with Pamoja dance group that include; mother tongue, Koncrete City, Mkwezi, Elephant Stories among others.
Dalmas has also featured in two music videos; 'Simama' by Mutinda and 'Politricks' by Namatsi Lukoye.
In 2012 during his brief holiday in South Australia, Dalmas conducted a few dance workshops at Restless Dance theatre which saw him perform his solo piece 'Three Phases' for the restless dancers and their parents/caregivers.
In 2013 he collaborated and performed with C.i.e Wayo, a France based dance company. He performed M'aime Pas Mal (I like me) in different festivals across 8 cities in France with Kenyan dancer Mani Mungai and British dancer John Bateman.
He has also worked on some solo projects along the way; 'Three phases' (2010) and 'Je Vous Aime Aussi' (2014)
Dalmas uses body movement to pass across message and mainly encourages people living with disabilities that they can turn their so-called disadvantage to be their greatest advantage. He believes that losing his leg was a blessing in disguise.
Poppy Mee is an actor, writer and theatre-maker. She creates highly theatrical performances steeped in satire, existentialism and a thick dollop of whimsy.
As an screen actor Poppy has appeared in Stateless, Lucy and DiC, as well as having co-wrote and performed in Hamlet In The Other Room at Rumpus Theatre and numerous independent projects locally and interstate.
PSYCHOPOMP is Poppy's second solo work, which she is currently redeveloping for its sophomore season at Melbourne Fringe Festival. Poppy is a proud MEAA member.
"She could be the child of Apollo and Dionysus in the flesh" ★★★★ The Adelaide Show Podcast
“Poppy Mee has a natural flair for storytelling.” ★★★★ 1/2 Mindshare
“Funnier than many stand-up comics mining the same field.” ★★★★ The Clothesline
“Acting chops and storytelling are second to none” ★★★★ 1/2 Upside Adelaide
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 Alyssa Powell-Ascura and The Mill's Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas for a chat about her exhibition Halo-halo, showing in Gallery II at The Mill as part of SALA Festival.
About the exhibition
The Mill is excited to present Halo-halo, a new exhibition by Alyssa Powell-Ascura developed through the Delima Residency in Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia and at The Mill. Alyssa explores her Filipino heritage and her experience of undertaking the residency in Malaysia through video, installation, photography and personal essays. Her work touches on multi-sensory experiences, bringing audiences into the act of kamayan - a traditional Filipino method of eating with bare hands. She invites audiences to immerse and participate within her installation environment. Photographs evoke the lush, humid environment at Rimbun Dahan and create a conversation between Alyssa’s experience in Malaysia, her ancestral home in Pilipinas (The Philippines) and growing up here in ‘Australia’
Halo-halo is presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
A self titled “slashie”, Alyssa Powell-Ascura is a multi-hyphenated creative. Proud to have grown up in Bundjalung country in a Filipino-Italian-Australian household, she has a background that has given her an interesting, layered perspective on the world.
Alyssa works across a variety of artistic mediums including: writing, conceptual art, immersive installation, traditional and mixed digital media, just to name a few.
Her personal belief in the interconnected relationship of humans to nature drives her to pursue advocating better care of ourselves and our Earth. A finalist of the inaugural SA Environment Awards 2023, she is nominated for her environmental advocacy and using her platform as an emerging creative to promote sustainability and inspire young people.
Motivated to bridge a deeper understanding and connection of Indigenous Philippines and pre colonial Indigenous Australia, Alyssa aims to be actively involved in the intersections she is a part of.
Her creative work has been featured in a variety of local and international publications such as: Local Brown Baby (US), Kindling and Sage magazine (AU), Blank Street Press (AU) and The Philippine Times (AU). She has been published in The Entree.Pinays' anthology "The Calamansi Story: Filipino Migrants in Australia".
If she’s not talking to the local Aunties and writing about food and culture, she can be found by the beach patting puppies who stop by to say hello.
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 Alyssa Powell-Ascura for a relaxed lunch gathering where you’ll learn about Alyssa’s approach to art-making through the lens of food, family and culture.
Experience making your own halo-halo, learning about Filipino food through the act of kamayan (eating with hands) and feast through a curated menu featuring iconic Filipino food favourites.
This workshop is presented as part of Alyssa's solo exhibition Halo-halo, currently showing at The Mill in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation.
What to expect:
Seated within Alyssa's exhibition, guests will be served traditional Filipino dishes and learn about Kamayan (eating with hands). All food provided, and the bar will be available to purchase wines from Hither & Yon and take home a complimentary Mama Sita’s package to recreate Filipino dishes at home.
Dietary note:
Vegan options available.
A self titled “slashie”, Alyssa Powell-Ascura is a multi-hyphenated creative. Proud to have grown up in Bundjalung country in a Filipino-Italian-Australian household, she has a background that has given her an interesting, layered perspective on the world.
Alyssa works across a variety of artistic mediums including: writing, conceptual art, immersive installation, traditional and mixed digital media, just to name a few.
Her personal belief in the interconnected relationship of humans to nature drives her to pursue advocating better care of ourselves and our Earth. A finalist of the inaugural SA Environment Awards 2023, she is nominated for her environmental advocacy and using her platform as an emerging creative to promote sustainability and inspire young people.
Motivated to bridge a deeper understanding and connection of Indigenous Philippines and pre colonial Indigenous Australia, Alyssa aims to be actively involved in the intersections she is a part of.
Her creative work has been featured in a variety of local and international publications such as: Local Brown Baby (US), Kindling and Sage magazine (AU), Blank Street Press (AU) and The Philippine Times (AU). She has been published in The Entree.Pinays' anthology "The Calamansi Story: Filipino Migrants in Australia".
If she’s not talking to the local Aunties and writing about food and culture, she can be found by the beach patting puppies who stop by to say hello.
For June-August 2024 The Mill presents Halo-halo, a new exhibition by Alyssa Powell-Ascura developed through the Delima Residency in Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, and at The Mill.
Halo-halo has been developed as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency program presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
This Virtual Gallery includes exhibition photography and social photography from the opening night and will include the live stream of Alyssa’s artist talk.
Some of the works showcased in “Halo-Halo” draw inspiration from living indigenous practices, for example, the act of kamayan seen in the video work Kain Tayo, employ the method of eating food with your hands, where communal feasting becomes a metaphor for shared experiences and collective consideration.
Central to my artistic vision is the conscious incorporation of repurposed or found items. Everyday items common in Filipino households, such as the ubiquitous kumot or blanket, serve as anchors, becoming symbols of resilience and adaptation; ultimately interrogating the assignment of value of these otherwise ordinary items when shown in a gallery setting.
During the Malaysian part of my Delima Residency, I engaged directly with community members, witnessed rural rituals, and embarked on a personal journey. This immersive experience deepened my connection to my Filipino lineage, shaping the spiritual dimension of my artistic practice.
Halo-halo is more than an exhibition — it is a celebration of the fifth largest migrant community in Australia whose ties to Indigenous Australia transcend pre-colonial times. It is an extension of myself, my unapologetic love letter to my Filipino ancestry and Australian upbringing.
Halo-halo (loose translation mix-mix or mixed) is the name of a popular Filipino shaved ice dessert made by layering a concoction of various ingredients. Each layer of different traditional toppings can be eaten one by one, or usually mixed, eventually combining into a sweetened dessert.
As an emerging multi-hyphenate artist, my first major solo exhibition at The Mill shows my investigation of cultures and the intersections I find myself in as an Asian Australian; a halo-halo of identities, the overarching theme of the exhibition.
Through the lens of food, family and culture, the audience is welcomed to a seat at the table, weaving together threads of tradition, memory, and contemporary discourse into a rich tapestry of multi-sensory experiences. Much like halo-halo, the exhibition showcases diverse works that are experimental in nature that you can consume on its own — and then all together, creating a mouthful of complementing ideas.
Photo: Morgan Sette
Photo: Daniel Marks
Install photos: Daniel Marks
Alyssa Powell-Ascura is the recipient of the Delima Residency, presented in co-operation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Alix Kuijpers as the recipient of the 2024 Dancehouse Residency.
This residency is presented in partnership with Dancehouse (VIC), providing development and performance pathways for South Australian dance-makers. The residency aims to foster national conversations in dance, through participation and exposure and is a way to unite national dance sectors.
Alix was the 2023 recipient of the Centre Stage Residency, presented in partnership with ARTS Unlimited, the Adelaide Fringe Foundation. During this residency he developed his new work Grim Grinning Ghosts, which he presented as part of the 2024 Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Alix will further develop and present Grim Grinning Ghosts at Dancehouse in Melbourne, October 10 - 19, 2024, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
About the artist:
Alix Kuijpers is an emerging freelance choreographer, performer and sound designer. Kuijpers’ notable achievements include being the first dance honours student at a South Australian institution, and receiving first-class honours from Flinders University for his solo work IMMATERIAL.
Since graduating from Adelaide College of the Arts, Alix has participated in dance festivals throughout the USA and Europe, performing for Jacob Jonas Company and Thar Be Dragons while overseas. Kuijpers was awarded Best Dance weekly award for his Adelaide Fringe debut ‘i know the end’ and the Emerging Artist Award for Fringe 2023 and toured the work to Melbourne Fringe.
Alix is passionate about representing as a South Australian artist and champions emerging artist voices through his roles and initiatives as Dance Hub SA's 2023 Associate Artist and as one of Carclew’s 2023 Sharehouse Residents.
For our first exhibition of 2024 The Mill presented Riot on an Empty Street, a new exhibition of photographs by Chris Siu derived from his ongoing project Then We Keep Living. This exhibition has been developed as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency program presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
This Virtual Gallery includes exhibition photography and social photography from the opening night and the live stream of Chris’ artist talk.
My residency at The Mill has been dedicated to developing the long-term photography project titled Then We Keep Living. The project navigates my relationship with Hong Kong through a two-volume narrative presented in medium format analogue photography. This exploration takes place against the backdrop of the 2019 mass civil unrest in Hong Kong, followed by my life in diaspora here in Australia.
The two respective volumes delve into representations of dispossession and defiance amidst the city’s ongoing socio-political transformation, contrasting with poignant reflections on diasporic experience and its isolating facets associated with cultural displacement, marginalisation, and disconnection. The project stands as a testament to the nuanced interplay of political dilemmas, self-discovery, and the frequently overlooked, profound repercussions of civil unrest.
Photo: Daniel Marks
Social photos: Daniel Marks
Chris Siu was the recipient of The Mill’s Mahmood Martin Foundation Sponsored Studio for the January-June residency in 2023.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. These events will be 1 hour (including a Q&A for the 6pm showing).
This showing and Q&A will be held in The Mill Breakout. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Please arrive at 5:45pm arrival for a 6pm sharp start.
This event will be 1 hour (including the Q&A).
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
Fusing Contemporary Indigenous Dance with the bold artistry of drag, Kaine Sultan-Babij will explore themes of identity, self-expression, and storytelling through movement and character.
Audiences can expect a captivating performance blending contemporary Indigenous dance with elements of drag. The show promises to take viewers on a dynamic journey exploring culture, identity, and expression, leaving them inspired and uplifted.
Kaine Sultan-Babij is a versatile artist renowned for their work in dance, choreography, and drag performance, captivating audiences with their dynamic performances that blend genres and push artistic boundaries.
About the artist:
Kaine Sultan-Babij is an Arrernte and Gurindji Contemporary Dance Artist, renowned for their work in dance, choreography, and drag performance. Based in Kaurna Country, Kaine stands as an Independent Dancer and Choreographer, contributing to the vibrant Australian performing arts scene.
Alongside their achievements in dance, the emergence of Estelle, a captivating Drag Performer and Persona, has added another layer to Kaine's artistic repertoire. Through electrifying performances, Estelle has earned a respected place in the Adelaide drag scene, embodying a powerful fusion of Tradition, creativity, and contemporary expression.
With a background that includes performing with Leigh Warren and Dancers, Bangarra Dance Theatre, and the Australian Dance Theatre, Kaine has skilfully blended Contemporary Dance and Contemporary Indigenous Dance. Based in Kaurna Country, Kaine stands as an Independent Dancer and Choreographer, contributing to the vibrant Australian performing arts scene.
Together, Kaine and Estelle embody a powerful fusion of Tradition, creativity, and contemporary expression, making a lasting impression on the dance and drag communities in Australia.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. These events will be 1 hour (including a Q&A for the 6pm showing).
This showing and Q&A will be held in The Mill Breakout. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Please arrive at 5:45pm arrival for a 6pm sharp start.
This event will be 1 hour (including the Q&A).
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
My Hair is Thinning is a new work by emerging South Australian playwright Anthony Nocera, directed by Clara Solly-Slade in collaboration with independent theatre makers The Kinetik Collective.
In late 2022, Anthony’s fiancé, Jamie, passed away unexpectedly. He was 24 years older than Anthony. The deal was that he would, most likely, pass away first. But he wasn’t meant to go just yet. Anthony and Jamie’s relationship was coloured by incongruity; Jamie was an extrovert, Anthony an introvert. Jamie, despite being much older, was interested in tech, and Anthony more dubious of it. But, perhaps most incongruously, despite being twice Anthony’s age, having cancer and having undergone chemotherapy, Jamie had a much better head of hair than Anthony.
Now Anthony finds himself at cross-roads: he’s 29, a widow and balding. He can’t help his age, and he can’t help but wade through his grief. He can, however, grow his hair back.
My Hair is Thinning is a darkly funny story about hair regrowth, navigating grief and learning to make peace with things that feel irreconcilable: genetics, death, who we fall in love with and the manner with which it happens.
About the artists:
Bianka is a designer + maker with a diverse practice, working across the stage, screen and gallery settings. Bianka has been Head of Prop Making for the multi-award-winning children’s TV series Beep and Mort, lectured in the creative industries division of Adelaide College of the Arts, is Co-Founder of Kinetik Collective and operates a workshop from Fab, the former acclaimed George Street Studios. Currently, Bianka is working on the design of DreamBIG festival (2025).
Bianka’s design for State Theatre Company of South Australia’s 2019 sold-out season of Animal Farm was a national finalist in the Australian Production Guild’s awards for emerging designer for live performance. Her debut solo exhibition Sugar won an Adelaide Fringe 2021 visual arts award and was an industry example of integrating accessibility into the design, fabrication and exhibition of an art experience. Her accessible theatre designs have also been recognised with a 2022 Ruby Award. Permanent public artworks can be found in Adelaide and in the Kangaroo Island Sculpture Trail. Collaborators include Warner Brothers, Windmill Theatre, Windmill Picture + ABC, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Kinetik Collective, Crossover (London) + Adelaide Fringe, Largent Studio (New York) +FOMO, Fox Creek + Garden of Unearthly Delights, SA Water, SA Tourism Commission, SA Power Networks, Adelaide City Council, independent theatre and private commissions.
Clara graduated from the acting stream of The Adelaide College of the Arts (2013) then undertook further training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London (Acting Shakespeare course, 2016). In 2017 she trained in Italy with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company at their International Directors Symposium. Clara was awarded the Helpmann Academy’s Neil Curnow Award (2018) where she interned in the USA with The H.E.A.T Collective, Working Classroom and continued her work with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company. She is a member of the multidisciplinary art collective The Bait Fridge.
Clara worked for two years full-time as an Emerging Director Fellow with the State Theatre Company of South Australia and State Opera of South Australia (2019-2020). In 2021 Clara directed Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons at Adelaide Collage of the Arts and for Dream Big Children’s Festival with Finnigan Kruckemeyer’s Everything They Ever Said with Fingers Crossed Behind their Backs for the Say Art’s Youth Ensemble. Co-Founder of Independent Company The Kinetik Collective she Directed Kill Climate Deniers in 2022 as part of The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s ‘Stateside Program’. Clara Co-Directed The River that Ran up Hill with Andy Packer for Slingsby Theatre Company presented in the 2023 Adelaide Festival, Hypercolour Miscellaneous Bistro Buffet with Dave Court for Slow Mango and The Bait Fridge as a part of Illuminate Festival and The Sight with Victoria Falconer for Dark Mofo.
Anthony Nocera is a writer based in Adelaide. He writes essays, criticism and plays.
In 2017, he was commissioned to co-write Boys of Sondheim for Woodward Productions. The play premiered at Melt Festival before touring to Sydney Mardi Gras in 2019. In 2023, Anthony’s work My Hair is Thinning was developed as part of Vitalstistix’s Adhocracy program and Theatre Republic presented his short play Black Widow Pussy as part of the FUTURE:PRESENT new writing incubator.
Anthony’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Age, Metro, Vice, Voiceworks and CityMag among many others. His essays have been anthologised in collections published by Black Ink and Wakefield Press. He has appeared at the National Young Writers Festival and Noted Festival.
His work has been rejected from many publications and places of note.
Zoë is a performing artist and emerging maker currently living and working on Kaurna Yerta. She studied at the New Zealand School of Dance graduating in 2011 with a Diploma in Dance Performance and is a NZSD Distinguished Alumni for 2021.
After being offered a position at Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) in 2012, Zoë worked full-time and as a guest dancer until 2020 under the directorship of Garry Stewart.
As an ADT dancer and independent artist, Zoë has toured nationally and internationally, and worked with local and international choreographers including Daniel Jaber (Nought and Dirt) and Ina Christel Johannessen (North).
Whilst living in SA, Zoë has also performed with local companies in children’s theatre and puppetry shows including Patch Theatre Company (Home and I Wish...), Windmill Theatre Co (Grug and Bluey’s Big Play) and Windmill Pictures (Beep and Mort: Season 1 and Season 2).
Zoë is an emerging maker and in 2023 she choreographed Co-Incident which featured fourteen AC Arts students. She also completed a first-stage development for her new dance theatre work Llama, which deals with motherhood, transformation, and intergenerational peculiarities.
When she isn’t performing, Zoë enjoys teaching people of all ages and abilities within a wide range of dance organisations, institutions, and studios.
Elizabeth is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and lives and works as an actor on Kaurna land. Her theatre credits include Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers, Red Cross Letters, Volpone and Jesikah for the State Theatre Company South Australia, The Garden for Theatre Republic, Baba Yaga, Grug and Grug and the Rainbow for Windmill Theatre Company, Yo Diddle Diddle and The Lighthouse for Patch Theatre Company, and the Helpmann Award-winning Emil and the Detectives for Slingsby. Elizabeth was part of the Australian cast of Girl from the North Country for GWB Entertainment/STCSA.
She joined the main cast of Danger 5 as ‘Holly’ for the series return on SBS and has worked on many other locally made television productions, commercials, and short films. Most recently, she appeared in A Sunburnt Christmas on Stan. Elizabeth is the voice of Olli in Sun Runners, a collaboration between Audioplay and Windmill Theatre Company.
Elizabeth made her directing debut in the inaugural season of RUMPUS at the end of 2019, with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves.
Max is an artist working on Kaurna land, specialising in real-time visual arts, interactive programming, and artistic integration with multimedia systems. Max graduated with a BA in Photography from Charles Sturt University in 2012 and built their technical skills by working at art festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Festival and Adelaide Fringe, and was creative producer at The Lab (Adelaide) until 2022.
Max is a member of The Bait Fridge arts collective and is currently based at Washdog Studios. From a lifelong interest in digital technology, Max has developed a creative practice that blends technical knowledge and multimedia arts, centred around collaboration and experimental process. Installation works include In The Belly Of The Beast (2023), a participatory experimental performance, and Computer Vision (2021) an early AI synthesized video installation. Notable collaborations include ROCKAMORA by Kaspar Shmidt Mumm at ACE Adelaide (2023), Trippin Up (2023) music video by The Jungle Giants created with volumetric 3D data, and ATM-001 (2023), an AI powered talking vending machine by Dave Court. With a diverse range of skills including photography, music and sonic arts, interactive programming, performance art, and lighting design, Max's experience allows them to connect and create using technology across disciplines. Max is proud to be have been selected to be one of Creative Australia’s Digital Fellows for 2024.
Adelaide-based musician and community arts facilitator, Mat Morison (he/they), is always looking for new ways to forge connections between disparate styles and ideas. Originally training in jazz piano, Mat has since taken their skills in improvisation and applied it to a wide variety of pursuits, from film and theatre composition, to performance art, Auslan interpreting, community arts facilitating, coding, and language making.
Mat performs regularly with musical outfit Slowmango, and performance art group The Bait Fridge, and is the Coordinator of Music at disability arts organisation Tutti Arts. They also work in Deaf adult education classes at TAFE SA, and contribute to a number of other community arts organisations such as Girls Rock! Adelaide, Open Space Contemporary Arts, and MUD.
Rob (they/them) is an actor, and writer born in the USA and currently based on Kaurna country. Prior to graduating from Sydney Actors School in 2021, Rob studied engineering, education, and dance, having trained in Ballet (RAD) for 10 years.
They dive head first into everything they do; from contemporary works - Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Shane Anthony, 2021), to classic texts - The Comedy of Errors (Kyle Rowling, 2019), to short works of their own devising - Chip Off The Old Block (Rob C Wells, 2023).
After the 2022 season touring Australia with Poetry In Action, Rob last year moved to Adelaide for love. With a few things in the works, they can't wait to continue to tell challenging stories, and show their dad that the theatre isn't just a "stage".
Videography: Josh Trezise
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
You can find Halo-halo inThe 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 Halo-halo, a new exhibition by Alyssa Powell-Ascura developed through the Delima Residency in Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, and at The Mill. Alyssa explores her Filipino heritage and her experience of undertaking the residency in Malaysia through video, installation, photography and personal essays. Her work touches on multi-sensory experiences, bringing audiences into the act of kamayan- a traditional Filipino method of eating with bare hands. She invites audiences to immerse and participate within her installation environment. Photographs evoke the lush, humid environment at Rimbun Dahan and create a conversation between Alyssa’s experience in Malaysia, her ancestral home in Pilipinas (The Philippines) and growing up here in ‘Australia’
Halo-halo is presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation and with support from Creative Australia.
Halo-halo (loose translation mix-mix or mixed) is the name of a popular Filipino shaved ice dessert made by layering a concoction of various ingredients. Each layer of different traditional toppings can be eaten one by one, or usually mixed, eventually combining into a sweetened dessert.
As an emerging multi-hyphenate artist, my first major solo exhibition at The Mill shows my investigation of cultures and the intersections I find myself in as an Asian Australian; a halo-halo of identities, the overarching theme of the exhibition.
Through the lens of food, family and culture, the audience is welcomed to a seat at the table, weaving together threads of tradition, memory, and contemporary discourse into a rich tapestry of multi-sensory experiences. Much like halo-halo, the exhibition showcases diverse works that are experimental in nature that you can consume on its own — and then all together, creating a mouthful of complementing ideas.
Some of the works showcased in “Halo-Halo” draw inspiration from living indigenous practices, for example, the act of kamayan seen in the video work Kain Tayo, employ the method of eating food with your hands, where communal feasting becomes a metaphor for shared experiences and collective consideration.
Central to my artistic vision is the conscious incorporation of repurposed or found items. Everyday items common in Filipino households, such as the ubiquitous kumot or blanket, serve as anchors, becoming symbols of resilience and adaptation; ultimately interrogating the assignment of value of these otherwise ordinary items when shown in a gallery setting.
During the Malaysian part of my Delima Residency, I engaged directly with community members, witnessed rural rituals, and embarked on a personal journey. This immersive experience deepened my connection to my Filipino lineage, shaping the spiritual dimension of my artistic practice.
Halo-halo is more than an exhibition — it is a celebration of the fifth largest migrant community in Australia whose ties to Indigenous Australia transcend pre-colonial times. It is an extension of myself, my unapologetic love letter to my Filipino ancestry and Australian upbringing.
A self titled “slashie”, Alyssa Powell-Ascura is a multi-hyphenated creative. Proud to have grown up in Bundjalung country in a Filipino-Italian-Australian household, she has a background that has given her an interesting, layered perspective on the world.
Alyssa works across a variety of artistic mediums including: writing, conceptual art, immersive installation, traditional and mixed digital media, just to name a few.
Her personal belief in the interconnected relationship of humans to nature drives her to pursue advocating better care of ourselves and our Earth. A finalist of the inaugural SA Environment Awards 2023, she is nominated for her environmental advocacy and using her platform as an emerging creative to promote sustainability and inspire young people.
Motivated to bridge a deeper understanding and connection of Indigenous Philippines and pre colonial Indigenous Australia, Alyssa aims to be actively involved in the intersections she is a part of.
Her creative work has been featured in a variety of local and international publications such as: Local Brown Baby (US), Kindling and Sage magazine (AU), Blank Street Press (AU) and The Philippine Times (AU). She has been published in The Entree.Pinays' anthology "The Calamansi Story: Filipino Migrants in Australia".
If she’s not talking to the local Aunties and writing about food and culture, she can be found by the beach patting puppies who stop by to say hello.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
The Delima Residency is presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
Halo-halo has received sponsorship from Mama-Sita’s Filipino sauces and spice mixes.
You can find A Resting State inThe 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.
Hamish Fleming, George Gilles, Anthea Jones, Robert Viner Jones and Billy Oakley
The Mill is excited to present A Resting State, a new exhibition curated by resident artist Hamish Fleming, featuring work by Hamish Fleming, George Gilles, Anthea Jones, Robert Viner Jones and Billy Oakley. In A Resting State artists have used the medium of painting as a device to create mood and atmosphere within everyday environments. Self-taught artist and now emerging curator, Hamish, has worked closely with the artists to develop an exhibition environment that is rich with feeling through the use of lighting, texture and colour.
A Resting State explores the relationship between the individual and their routine environment. Five artists working across different mediums and traditions have created works from mundane domestic settings. By focusing on what is, at first glance, incredibly simple subject matter, each of these works delve into the subtler elements of image making to take these common surroundings and bring forth their potential to reflect contemporary experience. From more traditional realism to dark, vibrant expressionism and even crisp nonrepresentational works, A Resting State is a visual demonstration of how the mental experience impacts our perception of daily life.
About the artists:
Artist statement
Domestic settings and household objects are not uncommon in my work. The visual symptoms of who we are and what we’re like behind closed doors fascinates me. Habits, rituals and vices are intrinsically intimate when addressed rather bluntly. My work is painted solely from life, and I attempt to address my subjects earnestly, often gravitating towards darker, grungier subject matter. These five works address the domestic environment, specifically mine, in two different emotional tones. The works; Sink, Again and Just Don’t Think of it So Much, open with on a darker tone. Despite their more sullen nature, there’s a comfort to be found in each, however; its cold comfort at best. Flat, Exterior, Late depicts my personal residence, observed from the outside in later hours of the night. Possessing both sinister qualities and a strangely inviting allure, the work presents this environment with foreboding welcome. Contrastingly, A Gentle Steep and Off the Clock are imbued with tenderness and a quiet warmth, shifting from the more solemn, gritty nature I typically present my work in. Objects huddled up and tucked closely together present an emotional intimacy, and a sense of comfort in company.
Biography
H. Fleming is a contemporary realist painter currently based in Adelaide (Kaurna Country), South Australia. Fleming is a self-taught artist, working closely both with and against the long-standing traditions of realism. He works solely from life, without the use of any reference photos, to convey the subtler elements of the human experience through frequently mundane subject matter. Fleming’s practice draws upon many influences, ranging from the classical masters and post-modernism, to gothic and dirty realism literature. In 2023 Hamish has been a finalist in the Bluethumb Art Prize, Centre for Creative Health Art Prize, and Smallacombe Prize, and winner of the Young Artist Category, Adelaide Parklands Art Prize.
https://hflemingartist.squarespace.com/
Artist statement
My ongoing body of work is an allegory for the collective human experience of fear instinct, the feeling just before the bad thing happens. My paintings explore the feeling of your stomach dropping just before the smoke screen is lifted. I have developed two series for this exhibition. The first is a departure from my previous larger scale post-modern expressionist works. I wanted to explore how more realistic form rendering and recognisable subject matter affects the audience's ability to relate to the work. Objects appear in and out of a dark background, emphasising the dichotomy between the mundane and uncomfortable. I have worked in many layers over time to achieve a representational, yet grimy atmosphere. The scenes were constructed in a cardboard box and lit by a single candle’s flame. I wanted to communicate the feeling of a precipice, a silent edge hidden within the normal everyday. Fruit is just about to topple and crash out of the composition, glass that could cut you, a glinting out-of-place corkscrew forced into an apple, forks jabbed into sliced lemons contrasted with pretty ribbons and high chroma, complementary colours.
Building on from the first series, the works in the second series get larger, forcing the audience to stand further back and absorb the more complicated scenes. Dramatic candle light is still used, and the paintings still have sections of intense colour, but are now overall darker, dirtier and less reliant on simpler impressionistic colour-blocking. My rendering techniques shift to deliberate areas of lose, textural brush strokes contrasting against smooth blends, a palette knife was also introduced to diversify mark making. Scenes reflect potential danger: unlit matches next to a wooden doll, a precarious palette knife covered in red paint that looks like blood, perched, teetering glassware, random pins piercing the paintings. Items that could hurt you but usually don’t. The second series also has a personal undercurrent, each painting representing a conflict either with my internal thoughts or external interpersonal interactions. The lined paper within the jar of ‘Love, George x’ is a handwritten letter addressing a disagreement I had with someone. Despite my intentions I never delivered the letter.
Biography
George Gilles is a painter and tattoo artist from Adelaide, South Australia. In 2016 she was awarded a state merit for visual art and continued to pursue a career in the industry, winning the Emerging Artist awards from both The Prospect Portrait Prize and Urban Cow Art Prize. Since then she has been part of The Carclew Sharehouse Residency, presented her debut solo exhibition 'The Way Home' and has co-founded Adelaide Arcade’s first tattoo studio, The Gilded Goblin.
George’s painting practice is driven by her desire to communicate emotional nuance through figurative works as well as inanimate objects and food. Currently, she is creating a body of work that pays homage to the traditional Dutch still life movement whilst also exploring personification and profundity of inanimate objects.
https://www.instagram.com/georgegilles_tattoo/
Artist statement
As an adult and an artist, where I lived and where I created were often one space, indeterminate of boundary, where did one end and the other begin? However, as a child there was never a doubt, my home was also my studio and gallery - my whole world. Home and the domestic was, and continues to be a constant source of comfort and inspiration. My two main paintings in this exhibition represent my earliest memory of deciding I would be an artist to finishing my art studies many years later!
From around age 4 or so I would constantly be found playing (hiding) alone behind the couch, in my own little world. Drawing and making: creating whatever I could with all the bits and pieces from around the house. Always engaged, never bored, learning and developing new skills. Nothing has changed - 60 years later I am still doing the same thing, just not behind the couch!
My painting The artist’s studio aged 6 - they ARE flowers mum! represents my earliest memory, deciding to be an artist. My mum was horrified at the drawing I insisted was flowers and not spiders. It did prompt the purchase of my first set of water paints and maybe started my subsequent lifelong love of colour theory and flora - who knows! It was also my first awareness of the idea that not everyone sees things the same way and I became more interested in representing things with a degree of accuracy.
My painting The artist’s kitchen aged 60 - anatomy and teacup follows this trajectory through to finishing my art studies. Although I now have a designated studio my art paraphernalia still infiltrates my living space. Whilst studying anatomy there were numerous skulls, skeletons and écorché models casually resting amongst the teacups and the milk jug. As an artist these objects were my normal- their shapes, colours, the shadows they projected and the atmosphere they created mixed in with the detritus of my regular everyday world.
Biography
Anthea Jones is a visual artist and inveterate maker. Born in Millicent, now living in Adelaide, her formal qualifications include an Advanced Diploma in Visual and Applied Art, North Adelaide School of Art, a Graduate Diploma in Management (Arts), UniSA and a Graduate Certificate in Art History (Australian Colonial and Modern), University of Adelaide. In 2023, Anthea received the award of a Diploma in Atelier Art, Rob Gutteridge School of Classical Realism, Adelaide (an accredited atelier with the International Art Renewal Centre).
Supplementing her formal studies, she has also attended numerous masterclasses at Adelaide Central School, summer school at the London Academy of Realist Art and life painting with acclaimed contemporary artist Shane Wolf in Yorkshire, UK. After the disappointment of a cancelled three months study at the New York Academy in 2020, Anthea was invited to and will be attending, a one-month residency at Chateaux d’Orqueveaux in France in June 2024.
Anthea has successfully participated in numerous local and interstate art exhibitions and competitions and has had photographs of her works published. While her art training and focus has been on figurative oil painting and drawing, she also enjoys creating with textiles, mixed media, paper and found objects. Anthea is enthralled by the principles, elements and techniques incumbent in developing an artistic piece.
https://antheajonesartist.com/
Artist Statement
Working in fashion design brought me to painting, it was how I relaxed. I love the precision of painting circles. I've worked with colour all my life and have developed a reasonably sharp eye for hue and will spend hours considering shades etc. The bright colours, the defined shapes - it connects with my love of mid 20th century design, which I reference within my printmaking practice. Plus there is something about multitudes of shapes, a plethora of colour I enjoy - I think of these works as a herd of dots.
Each colour is defined, there is no bleed between the images and I paint multiple layers to add a depth and intensity. Having come back to painting after practicing as a screen printer, I’ve found that I have wrestled with the texture. I’ve been thinking about how to make it flat, how to get rid of the texture. I’ve remembered how I achieved this years ago and yet now, I have also grown to love the texture and instead, have embraced the brush strokes.
I am inspired by Joseph Albers and Bauhaus design. I have a book of Josef’s which I have regularly referenced for about 20 years. The blues, the greys and the stone are a nod those Bauhaus colours. I’ve added a pop of red, it's like a ruby. I usually use bright colours, so the curatorial brief for this exhibition has pushed me out of my comfort zone. My second work is a bit brighter, naughtily pushing back against the boundaries of the curatorial rationale.
Biography
Robert Viner Jones (AKA Bob Window) is a contemporary printer/painter based in Adelaide (Kaurna Country). Robert’s works offer bold, uncompromising graphics - stark and confident in their nature. Trained in Sydney, obsessed with design and colour, Robert’s works draw heavily on fearlessness of mid 20th century design plus an unbridled willingness to simply paint and print things that make him smile.
https://bobwindow.com.au/
Artist Statement
My works are representational and figurative explorations of the subconscious. I like to use narratives, people and places sourced from my life. The imagery of naive childish spooky dreams and silly fears rest at the bottom of the subconscious of the artist, here they are brought to the surface to be seen in their curiously cute seriousness and sulky playground dissatisfaction. I use deeply rich, bold and unnatural colours to illuminate solitary figures in their own environments, blurring the line between real and surreal. My work focuses on people and the deep personal mental worlds they create, how they exist within those spaces and the relationship outside reality has with this space.
Biography
Billy Oakley is a South Australian Artist exploring the subconscious through narrative imagery, people and place through his oil paintings. The imagery of naive childish spooky dreams and silly fears rest at the bottom of the subconscious, and here they are brought to the surface to be seen in their curiously cute sulky seriousness. Billy has exhibited at Floating Goose, Urban Cow, Collective Haunt, Brunswick Street Gallery, Mixed Spice Studios and The Mill.
https://www.billyoakley.com/
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Bri Hammond as the recipient of the Photographer in Residence program for 2024. Presented in partnership with the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation Fund, Bri will receive a 12-month studio space in 2024 and an exhibition outcome as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Program in 2025.
Bri Hammond is a photographer living on Kaurna country in Adelaide, previously residing on Wurundjeri and 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.
Photo: Bri Hammond
The Photographer in Residence program is presented in partnership with the Ana and Christopher Koch Foundation Fund.
This workshop will include walking around Adelaide CBD.
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 Chris Siu for a walking photography workshop. Learn about Chris’s approach to crafting narratives through sequences of photographs, focusing on the development of a visual language rather than individual images. Bring your own digital camera (camera phone, digital camera) and take a walk along Angas Street to the iconic Central Markets, collecting images and building a narrative.
What to expect:
The workshop will start at The Mill on Angas Street with an introduction from Chris and an opportunity to view his exhibition Riot on an Empty Street. Participants will be given the opportunity to devise a ‘mood’ or ‘theme’ for their series before walking with the group along Angas Street to the Central Markets on Gouger Street.
Participants will spend some time taking photos on their own devices, focusing on everyday life and following intuition. We will then return to The Mill for refreshments and to share with the group. The workshop will include an opportunity to chat about the photographs taken and to share the stories and narratives created through the photographic series.
Experience level:
No experience necessary. Participants must bring their own digital camera and must know how to operate it (no technical support will be provided about camera settings etc.) Some walking is required, please get in touch if you have any accessibility questions.
Chris Siu is a Hong Kong-born photographic artist living and working on Kaurna Yerta in Tarntanya Adelaide. Informed by the traditions of documentary photography, Chris’s work investigates and chronicles the intricate relationships that lie within his surrounding social landscapes. Chris’s practice is profoundly influenced by the flux of sociopolitical happenings in his homeland Hong Kong and his ever-changing place within it. Through exploring notions of layered histories and geopolitics, Chris’s work seeks to offer a reflection on personal and communal experience, pivoting around representations of civil unrest, diasporic experience, cultural displacement and marginality within contemporary existence.
Chris has exhibited throughout Australia, beginning with his feature at the 2019 Head On Photo Festival. Subsequently, he has exhibited at venues including Nexus Arts, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, Centre for Contemporary Photography, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.
You can find Riot on an Empty Street inThe 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.
Join Chris Siu and The Mill's Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas for a chat about his new exhibition 'Riot on an Empty Street', now showing in Gallery I at The Mill.
Chris Siu developed Riot on an Empty Street as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency program presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
Where: The Breakout at The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: From $18-26
Duration: 60 minutes
Grim Grinning Ghosts will be held in The Breakout at The Mill. Please come to the Exhibition Space 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
On a day after grief, one lonely artist is left to wade through the belongings of some dead relatives, only to find they have walked into an otherworldly intervention. In a one-of-a-kind choreographic séance, the audience will be guided into the afterlife of those living, and deceased. Horrific? Yes! Sad? Absolutely! This solo work is one that will stay with you; it might even follow you home…
Created and performed by Alix Kuijpers, winner of the 2023 Adelaide Fringe Emerging Artist Award.
“It is exciting to witness emerging artists who are both talented and perceptive: Kuijpers is obviously a deep thinker and definitely a person of many talents.” Stage Whispers
“The hour is jam-packed with intense, varied, and embodied emotion conveyed through divergent and fragmentary scenes. Alix oscillates between grief, terror, and joy in jarring yet curated ways through an expert command of voice and body. There are also sensual, tender moments which are undoubtedly my favourite points of the performance, perhaps for their slow honey-like contrast to staccato bursts of pain. Flashes of true comedy also surface like guiding lights in a fearful fog… This is a performance for those who know love and loss. This is an important, exploratory work which shouldn’t be missed.” Marina Deller
“Grim Grinning Ghosts is more than a contemporary dance work, its an experience.” ★★★★.5 The Adelaide Show Podcast
This show was developed under The Mill x Adelaide Fringe Centre Stage Residency, and produced by The Mill and Alchemy Collective.
Alix Kuijpers is an emerging freelance choreographer and sound designer whose queer based work has garnered a strong reputation for creating contemporary dance in South Australia. Kuijpers’ notable achievements include becoming the first dance honours student at a South Australian institution, receiving first-class honours from Flinders University for his solo work IMMATERIAL.
Alix recently spent time in the USA and Europe participating in major dance festivals such as B12 and Orsolina 28 and working with practitioners such as Jacob Jonas the Company and Thar Be Dragons. His most notable sonic commissions include creating the sound score for Motus Collective’s work The Leftovers in 2022 and again in 2023, he also created the score for METTLE by Circus SA and for Ceremonial by Amelia Watson, which premiered at the ResiDanza di Primavera in Italy.
In 2023, Kuijpers was awarded a Best Dance weekly award for his Adelaide Fringe debut ‘i know the end’ and later in the season received the coveted Emerging Artist Award for Fringe 2023.
Alix is passionate about representing as a South Australian artist and champions the emerging artist voice through his roles and initiatives as Dance Hub SA's 2023 Associate Artist and as one of Carclew’s 2023 Sharehouse Residents.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Oriana Julie Winston as the recipient of the Visual Arts Studio Residency in 2024. Supported by the Mahmood Martin Foundation, Oriana will receive 9-months of studio space and an exhibition outcome in The Mill’s Gallery II.
Situated on Kaurna Land in Adelaide, Oriana pioneers a visual language deeply rooted in Afrofuturism, leveraging imagination as a technology to embrace empowering diasporic narratives within a past/future/now.
Blending bold visual and performance artistry, she sparks dialogue to collectively reimagine themes surrounding time, identity, and culture within the Anthropocene. This dynamic exploration is enriched by Oriana's African American and Italian ethnicity, creating a unique fusion of influences against the backdrop of Kaurna Land.
Within this futuristic narrative, Oriana finds liberation within her body as a powerful force, extending beyond Eurocentric conditions and limitations of the physical body in space. In 2022, Oriana graduated from a Bachelor of Visual Art at Adelaide Central School of Art, earning an invitation to pursue Honours. Her artistic journey spans interstate performances, securing various commissions, and residencies.
A defining moment in 2022 was her invitation to perform Mel O'Callaghan's Respire, Respire at the Samstag Museum of Art alongside artist Henry Wolfe, and Jingwei Bu. During the Nexus Arts Studio Residency Oriana engaged in a mentorship with Faye Blanche of the Unbound Collective, enriching her artistic perspective and earning her a nomination for the Don Dunstan Foundation Award.
Beyond her artistic pursuits, Oriana is the Director of SOLSPACE, a studio, and art therapy platform. Through workshops and public lectures, she passionately demonstrates how visual and performance art can be powerful tools for social, personal, and cultural empowerment, weaving together artistic practice and commitment to community engagement.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Marina Deller as the recipient of the 2024 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.
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.
Photo: Supplied by Marina Deller.
Read the articles
The Writer in Residence program is presented in partnership with CityMag.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Tanya Voges as the 2024 Dance Residency recipient.
This is an open project development and presentation platform available to South Australian performing artists working with contemporary culture. The aim of the residency is to offer place and space as part of a vibrant arts community for artists to develop and show new or existing work.
About the artists:
Tanya Voges is an interdisciplinary artist, facilitator and dance movement therapist, whose work is based on her history of dance. Through an attempt to constantly capture the ephemerality of dance, Tanya works with mark-making and performance drawing, through film and photography, interviews and spoken word. Tanya’s dance works bridge arts and health and engage with the community through site-specific performances, workshops and choreography for diverse groups from mothers with their babies, youth dance practice, and professional performers through to the elderly.
A graduate of Victorian College of the Arts (2004) and Melbourne University (2023), Tanya has worked with renowned choreographers in Australia and toured overseas in a career that spans 25 years. Living and working on the unceded Kaurna and Peramangk Lands of South Australia, Tanya’s work has been supported by Australian Dance Theatre, Dance Hub SA and The Mill. Artist Residencies at Flinders Medical Centre and South Australian Museum have extended her practice, and long-term collaboration with Louise Flaherty (visual artist) and Belinda Gehlert (musician) has produced two site-specific participatory performances Memorial for Forgotten Plants (Parklands 2020, Nature Fest 2021, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2022) and Understory (Fabrik, Lobethal 2023).
Belinda Gehlert plays the Violin, Viola and Piano as an independent musician and with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Collaborating with diverse artists Belinda creates and produces electronic music and live performance for theatre, dance, live art, ensembles and bands. Her professional creative practice as a musician spans two decades. Since 2005 she has been writing chamber music, producing original electronic music and writing for the screen.
As a member of the Australian Art Music and Ruby Award winning, Adelaide-based Zephyr Quartet, Belinda performed throughout Australia, The Philippines, England, Ireland, Germany, Scotland and The Netherlands. Belinda has composed and arranged music for Brink Productions, Patch Theatre Company, The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Restless Dance Theatre, Vitalstatistix, State Theatre Company of South Australia and is the 2020 COMA (Contemporary Original Music Adelaide) Composer in Residence.
Since 2020, Belinda has collaborated on site-specific, participatory performance works Memorial for Forgotten Plants and Understory with visual artist Lousie Flaherty and dance artist Tanya Voges (www.louiseflaherty.com/lobethal)
Kunyi (Queenie) Wu is a Chinese born, SA (Kaurna Land) based independent dance artist and educator. A graduate of Adelaide College of the Arts in 2022, Kunyi performed alongside ADT dancers in Daniel Riley’s Savage and danced in works by Alison Currie and Lee Brummer. Since graduating, she has worked with choreographers Alison Currie, Sue Healey and performed with Alchemy Collective and Adelaide Sakura Troupe.
Her interest in researching human connection has led her to integrate social, emotional, cultural and physical approaches to working with people of different ages and disciplines, translating these experiences and information into her physical practices of performing and pedagogy.
Amelia Watson is an independent performance artist who works between Italy, The Netherlands and Australia. Born on Kaurna Land in Australia, Amelia has a detailed and long background training in diverse movement styles including martial arts, tumbling, floor work, yoga, puppeteering, improvisation, ballet and contemporary dance. Amelia is a 2020 graduate from Adelaide College of Arts, a 2023 Helpmann Academy Fellowship Recipient and a 2023 graduate of Interdisciplinary Art (specialising in contemporary dance and dramaturgy) through Anfibia Art in Bologna, Italy. As well as working with independent choreographers in Australia and Europe, Amelia continues to create work through an anthropological lens and is interested in ‘universal feelings’, hands-on research and social sciences. @milolikethedrink
Alix Kuijpers is an emerging freelance choreographer, performer and sound designer. Kuijpers’ notable achievements include being the first dance honours student at a South Australian institution, and receiving first-class honours from Flinders University for his solo work IMMATERIAL.
Since graduating from Adelaide College of the Arts, Alix has participated in dance festivals throughout the USA and Europe, performing for Jacob Jonas Company and Thar Be Dragons while overseas. Kuijpers was awarded Best Dance weekly award for his Adelaide Fringe debut ‘i know the end’ and the Emerging Artist Award for Fringe 2023 and toured the work to Melbourne Fringe.
Alix is passionate about representing as a South Australian artist and champions emerging artist voices through his roles and initiatives as Dance Hub SA's 2023 Associate Artist and as one of Carclew’s 2023 Sharehouse Residents.
Fern Mines is a South Australian emerging independent artist and teacher, dancing and working on Kaurna Meyunna Yerta. After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 2021 Fern has begun to establish herself in the South Australian Sector. Central to Fern’s artistic practice is a deep love of movement and belief in the importance of dance as both creative expression and a well-being practice. Alongside her dance training, Fern has always loved teaching and currently shares her passion with students from toddlers through to adults at a number of South Australian Schools.
As a Sharehouse resident at Carclew, Fern co-created Groundskeeping regular dance sessions for the contemporary dance sector with Alix Kujipers and collaborated with Alchemy Dance Collective to present At a mansion.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Kaine Sultan-Babij as the recipient of the 2024 First Nations Dance Residency.
This is an open project development and presentation platform available to South Australian performing artists working with contemporary culture. The aim of the residency is to offer place and space as part of a vibrant arts community for artists to develop and show new or existing work.
About the artist:
Arrernte and Gurindji Contemporary Dance Artist, Kaine Sultan-Babij, is making a lasting impact on the world of dance and drag.
With a background that includes performing with Leigh Warren and Dancers, Bangarra Dance Theatre, and the Australian Dance Theatre, Kaine has skilfully blended Contemporary Dance and Contemporary Indigenous Dance. Based in Kaurna Country, Kaine stands as an Independent Dancer and Choreographer, contributing to the vibrant Australian performing arts scene.
Beyond Kaine's achievements in the dance world, the emergence of Estelle, a captivating Drag Performer and Persona, has added another layer to their artistic repertoire. Estelle quickly gained recognition, establishing herself as a standout performer in the Adelaide Drag Scene. Through electrifying performances, Estelle has earned a respected place in the realm of drag.
Together, Kaine and Estelle embody a powerful fusion of Tradition, creativity, and contemporary expression, making a lasting impression on the dance and drag communities in Australia.
The Mill is thrilled to announce The Kinetik Collective as the recipient of the 2024 Theatre Residency.
This is an open project development and presentation platform available to South Australian performing artists working with contemporary culture. The aim of the residency is to offer place and space as part of a vibrant arts community for artists to develop and show new or existing work.
About the artists:
Bianka Kennedy (Designer/ Co-Founder of The Kinetik Collective): Bianka is a designer + maker with a diverse practice, working across the stage, screen and gallery settings. Bianka has been Head of Prop Making for the multi-award-winning children’s TV series Beep and Mort, lectured in the creative industries division of Adelaide College of the Arts, is Co-Founder of Kinetik Collective and operates a workshop from Fab, the former acclaimed George Street Studios. Currently, Bianka is working on the design of DreamBIG festival (2025).
Bianka’s design for State Theatre Company of South Australia’s 2019 sold-out season of Animal Farm was a national finalist in the Australian Production Guild’s awards for emerging designer for live performance. Her debut solo exhibition Sugar won an Adelaide Fringe 2021 visual arts award and was an industry example of integrating accessibility into the design, fabrication and exhibition of an art experience. Her accessible theatre designs have also been recognised with a 2022 Ruby Award. Permanent public artworks can be found in Adelaide and in the Kangaroo Island Sculpture Trail. Collaborators include Warner Brothers, Windmill Theatre, Windmill Picture + ABC, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Kinetik Collective, Crossover (London) + Adelaide Fringe, Largent Studio (New York) +FOMO, Fox Creek + Garden of Unearthly Delights, SA Water, SA Tourism Commission, SA Power Networks, Adelaide City Council, independent theatre and private commissions.
Clara Solly-Slade (Director/ Co-Founder of The Kinetik Collective): Clara graduated from the acting stream of The Adelaide College of the Arts (2013) then undertook further training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London (Acting Shakespeare course, 2016). In 2017 she trained in Italy with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company at their International Directors Symposium. Clara was awarded the Helpmann Academy’s Neil Curnow Award (2018) where she interned in the USA with The H.E.A.T Collective, Working Classroom and continued her work with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company. She is a member of the multidisciplinary art collective The Bait Fridge.
Clara worked for two years full-time as an Emerging Director Fellow with the State Theatre Company of South Australia and State Opera of South Australia (2019-2020). In 2021 Clara directed Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons at Adelaide Collage of the Arts and for Dream Big Children’s Festival with Finnigan Kruckemeyer’s Everything They Ever Said with Fingers Crossed Behind their Backs for the Say Art’s Youth Ensemble. Co-Founder of Independent Company The Kinetik Collective she Directed Kill Climate Deniers in 2022 as part of The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s ‘Stateside Program’. Clara Co-Directed The River that Ran up Hill with Andy Packer for Slingsby Theatre Company presented in the 2023 Adelaide Festival, Hypercolour Miscellaneous Bistro Buffet with Dave Court for Slow Mango and The Bait Fridge as a part of Illuminate Festival and The Sight with Victoria Falconer for Dark Mofo.
Anthony Nocera is a writer based in Adelaide. He writes essays, criticism and plays.
In 2017, he was commissioned to co-write Boys of Sondheim for Woodward Productions. The play premiered at Melt Festival before touring to Sydney Mardi Gras in 2019. In 2023, Anthony’s work My Hair is Thinning was developed as part of Vitalstistix’s Adhocracy program and Theatre Republic presented his short play Black Widow Pussy as part of the FUTURE:PRESENT new writing incubator.
Anthony’s writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Age, Metro, Vice, Voiceworks and CityMag among many others. His essays have been anthologised in collections published by Black Ink and Wakefield Press. He has appeared at the National Young Writers Festival and Noted Festival.
His work has been rejected from many publications and places of note.
Zoë is a performing artist and emerging maker currently living and working on Kaurna Yerta. She studied at the New Zealand School of Dance graduating in 2011 with a Diploma in Dance Performance and is a NZSD Distinguished Alumni for 2021.
After being offered a position at Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) in 2012, Zoë worked full-time and as a guest dancer until 2020 under the directorship of Garry Stewart.
As an ADT dancer and independent artist, Zoë has toured nationally and internationally, and worked with local and international choreographers including Daniel Jaber (Nought and Dirt) and Ina Christel Johannessen (North).
Whilst living in SA, Zoë has also performed with local companies in children’s theatre and puppetry shows including Patch Theatre Company (Home and I Wish...), Windmill Theatre Co (Grug and Bluey’s Big Play) and Windmill Pictures (Beep and Mort: Season 1and Season 2).
Zoë is an emerging maker and in 2023 she choreographed Co-Incident which featured fourteen AC Arts students. She also completed a first-stage development for her new dance theatre work Llama, which deals with motherhood, transformation, and intergenerational peculiarities.
When she isn’t performing, Zoë enjoys teaching people of all ages and abilities within a wide range of dance organisations, institutions, and studios.
Elizabeth Hay (Performer): Elizabeth is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and lives and works as an actor on Kaurna land. Her theatre credits include Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers, Red Cross Letters, Volpone and Jesikah for the State Theatre Company South Australia, The Garden for Theatre Republic, Baba Yaga, Grug and Grug and the Rainbow for Windmill Theatre Company, Yo Diddle Diddle and The Lighthouse for Patch Theatre Company, and the Helpmann Award-winning Emil and the Detectives for Slingsby. Elizabeth was part of the Australian cast of Girl from the North Country for GWB Entertainment/STCSA.
She joined the main cast of Danger 5 as ‘Holly’ for the series return on SBS and has worked on many other locally made television productions, commercials, and short films. Most recently, she appeared in A Sunburnt Christmas on Stan. Elizabeth is the voice of Olli in Sun Runners, a collaboration between Audioplay and Windmill Theatre Company.
Elizabeth made her directing debut in the inaugural season of RUMPUS at the end of 2019, with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves.
Max is an artist working on Kaurna land, specialising in real-time visual arts, interactive programming, and artistic integration with multimedia systems. Max graduated with a BA in Photography from Charles Sturt University in 2012 and built their technical skills by working at art festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Festival and Adelaide Fringe, and was creative producer at The Lab (Adelaide) until 2022.
Max is a member of The Bait Fridge arts collective and is currently based at Washdog Studios. From a lifelong interest in digital technology, Max has developed a creative practice that blends technical knowledge and multimedia arts, centred around collaboration and experimental process. Installation works include In The Belly Of The Beast (2023), a participatory experimental performance, and Computer Vision (2021) an early AI synthesized video installation. Notable collaborations include ROCKAMORA by Kaspar Shmidt Mumm at ACE Adelaide (2023), Trippin Up (2023) music video by The Jungle Giants created with volumetric 3D data, and ATM-001 (2023), an AI powered talking vending machine by Dave Court. With a diverse range of skills including photography, music and sonic arts, interactive programming, performance art, and lighting design, Max's experience allows them to connect and create using technology across disciplines. Max is proud to be have been selected to be one of Creative Australia’s Digital Fellows for 2024.
Adelaide-based musician and community arts facilitator, Mat Morison (he/they), is always looking for new ways to forge connections between disparate styles and ideas. Originally training in jazz piano, Mat has since taken their skills in improvisation and applied it to a wide variety of pursuits, from film and theatre composition, to performance art, Auslan interpreting, community arts facilitating, coding, and language making.
Mat performs regularly with musical outfit Slowmango, and performance art group The Bait Fridge, and is the Coordinator of Music at disability arts organisation Tutti Arts. They also work in Deaf adult education classes at TAFE SA, and contribute to a number of other community arts organisations such as Girls Rock! Adelaide, Open Space Contemporary Arts, and MUD.
Rob (they/them) is an actor, and writer born in the USA and currently based on Kaurna country. Prior to graduating from Sydney Actors School in 2021, Rob studied engineering, education, and dance, having trained in Ballet (RAD) for 10 years.
They dive head first into everything they do; from contemporary works - Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Shane Anthony, 2021), to classic texts - The Comedy of Errors (Kyle Rowling, 2019), to short works of their own devising - Chip Off The Old Block (Rob C Wells, 2023).
After the 2022 season touring Australia with Poetry In Action, Rob last year moved to Adelaide for love. With a few things in the works, they can't wait to continue to tell challenging stories, and show their dad that the theatre isn't just a "stage".
Image: Chris Siu, Tattoo of a Wilting Bauhinia - Adelaide, South Australia, (detail), 2023, from the series Then We Keep Living Vol. 2. Courtesy of the artist.
You can find Riot on an Empty Street inThe 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 Riot on an Empty Street, a new exhibition of photographs by Chris Siu derived from his ongoing project Then We Keep Living. Through medium format analogue photography, Chris explores his relationship with his homeland, Hong Kong. The work navigates the experience of mass civil unrest, as experienced in Hong Kong and living in diaspora here in Australia. The powerful images give the viewer a sense of dis-ease and tension, incorporating protest, the body, signifiers of colonial and authoritarian resistance and the political power of the masses contrasted with bone-aching isolation associated with cultural displacement, marginalisation and disconnection. Chris’ approach to image-making is cultural and academic as well as deeply feeling and intuitive. He offers us a very personal entry point into a political situation that many have observed through the cycles of journalism.
Chris Siu developed Riot on an Empty Street as part of The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency program presented in cooperation with the Mahmood Martin Foundation.
My residency at The Mill has been dedicated to developing the long-term photography project titled Then We Keep Living. The project navigates my relationship with Hong Kong through a two-volume narrative presented in medium format analogue photography. This exploration takes place against the backdrop of the 2019 mass civil unrest in Hong Kong, followed by my life in diaspora here in Australia.
The two respective volumes delve into representations of dispossession and defiance amidst the city’s ongoing socio-political transformation, contrasting with poignant reflections on diasporic experience and its isolating facets associated with cultural displacement, marginalisation, and disconnection. The project stands as a testament to the nuanced interplay of political dilemmas, self-discovery, and the frequently overlooked, profound repercussions of civil unrest.
Chris Siu is a Hong Kong-born photographic artist living and working on Kaurna Yerta in Tarntanya Adelaide. Informed by the traditions of documentary photography, Chris’s work investigates and chronicles the intricate relationships that lie within his surrounding social landscapes. Chris’s practice is profoundly influenced by the flux of sociopolitical happenings in his homeland Hong Kong and his ever-changing place within it. Through exploring notions of layered histories and geopolitics, Chris’s work seeks to offer a reflection on personal and communal experience, pivoting around representations of civil unrest, diasporic experience, cultural displacement and marginality within contemporary existence.
Chris has exhibited throughout Australia, beginning with his feature at the 2019 Head On Photo Festival. Subsequently, he has exhibited at venues including Nexus Arts, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, Centre for Contemporary Photography, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.
The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency is presented in co-operation with Mahmood Martin Foundation.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
