Centre Stage Residencies: Announcing the successful 2025 recipients

chloe metcalfe ·

We are thrilled to announce CRAM Collective and Yoz Mensch as the recipients of the 2025 Centre Stage Residencies.

The Centre Stage Residencies are presented in collaboration with Adelaide Fringe as part of their Arts Industry Collaborations program. This unique incubator program is for South Australian artists to progress a new performance work in its second or third stage of development to the next level, culminating in a season at The Mill as part of the 2025 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

About the artist:

  • Yoz Mensch (they/she) is a multi-award-winning clown, comedian, writer, and performer living and working on Kaurna Yerta. Their primary arts focus is storytelling that engages through humour and offers thoughtful catharsis.

    In 2024 they trained in Clowning, Le Jeu and Buffon at L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier 2024, toured No Babies In The Sauna to Perth, Adelaide, Prague, and Edinburgh Fringes, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, picking up the Best Comedy Award at Prague Fringe, and the House of Oz Purse Prize at Adelaide Fringe.

    YOU’RE ALL INVITED TO MY SON SAMUELS FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY received the Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award at Adelaide Fringe 2022, and picked up the Spirit of The Fringe Award at Melbourne Fringe 2022. They co-wrote, directed and performed in the ambitious sketch-sci-fi ensemble The End is High-Concept - which garnered positive reviews and pioneered live motion-capture for animated on-stage characters. They also co-produced, co-wrote and co-presented HUGE NEWS for Radio Adelaide, a satirical news sketch programme turned live podcast for Edinburgh Fringe 2018.

  • Melissa Pullinger is an Australian/ English theatre and film actor and is a 2020 Honours graduate of Flinders University Drama Centre. Growing up in England, Melissa appeared in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Sound of Music (2008) at the London Palladium, where she played Brigitta Von Trapp for six months. Upon emigrating to Adelaide, Melissa performed in Border Project’s Disappearance (2008) and then Windmill Theatre and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Granpa (2008).

    Along with specialising in devising and physical theatre, Melissa is a co-founder of independent theatre collective, The CRAM Collective.Since graduating, Melissa has toured with Perform! Education in their Book Week Tour, Bigger, Better, Brighter! (2021) and Story Quest (2022). Since co-founding CRAM, Melissa has produced and starred in the sold-out world premieres of New World Coming, Something Big, The Future is You and EDGE. In 2022, Melissa travelled to England after being selected to train at Frantic Assembly’s International Summer School.

    Melissa began working as a puppeteer for Slingsby’s collaboration with A Blanck Canvas, for Illuminate Adelaide. She then joined the USA & Canada tour of Bluey’s Big Play puppeteering both Bluey and Bingo and touring through 2023 & 2024. She then joined the UK & Northern Ireland tour of Bluey’s Big Play, puppeteering Bingo. In April, Melissa toured across New Zealand with Bluey’s Big Play, puppeteering Bluey.

    Connor Reidy is a South Australian director and theatre maker. He graduated with first class Honours in Directing at the Flinders University Drama Centre. His directing credits include pool (no water), BC, Control, Iphigenia in Orem, The Seagull, and Lungs (Flinders DC).

    In 2021, Connor co-founded The CRAM Collective, a South Australian independent theatre company. His credits for CRAM include NEW WORLD COMING, Anna Barnes’ Something Big and THE FUTURE IS YOU. CRAM is the proud recipient of the 2022 Helpmann Academy Creative Innovator seed funding. 

    Connor’s professional assistant directing credits include Circle Mirror Transformation (Sydney Theatre Company), Lines and The Bleeding Tree (Theatre Republic), Oleanna (Flying Penguin Productions), and The Normal Heart and Hibernation (STCSA). Connor recently directed Emily Steel’s The Worst (Theatre Republic) AND Proud (Famous Last Words).

    Ren Williams is an Australian film & theatre actor, having trained with Honours at the Flinders University Drama Centre. Also specialising in directing and writing, Ren is a co-founder of independent theatre company CRAM Collective. After graduating in 2020, Ren has performed in theatre shows such as Kinetik Collective's STCSA StateSide show Kill Climate Deniers (Dir. Clara Solly-Slade), the North American Tour of Bluey’s Big Play as Bluey (Dir. Rosemary Myers), the one-woman show at DreamBIG Guthrak (Dir. Matthew Briggs), Hits at the AFC (Dir. Rebecca Meston), CRAM Collective's world premiere Something Big (Dir. Connor Reidy) and Slingsby Theatre Company’s trilogy A Concise Compendium of Wonder (Dir. Andy Packer) premiering in the 2026 Adelaide Festival. With a screen-acting diploma from Actors Studio UK at the prestigious Pinewood Studios, Ren has appeared in a number of short films such as The Hitcher which premiered at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival (Dir. Henry Reimer-Meaney, With Love, Lottie premiering at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival (Dir. Lily Drummond), and ABC’s Beep & Mort Season 2 as an additional puppeteer. Ren’s latest directorial short This is Fine. won Best Directing and Best Film at the 2024 Adelaide 48HFP, sending it to the Filmapalooza Seattle wining 3rd Best Film; where it will now go to the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner

    Connor Pullinger graduated Flinders Drama Centre with a First Class Honours degree in Acting.

    Key roles include the AACTA award winning SBS mini-series The Hunting as OLIVER. In 2024 he starred in SAPOL’s Stop Flirting With Death TVC State-Wide campaign. Connor led BULLDOG, which was officially selected at 5 Film Festivals across Australia. Connor plays the titular role in The Hitcher, which premiered at AFF2024. Connor has seven shorts and one indie feature awaiting release/festivals this year. 

    These projects collaborated with Closer Productions, Heesom Casting, Proetic Productions, Stepney Studios & Showpony Advertising. 

    Extending beyond screens, Connor starred in The CRAM Collective’s sold out 5-Star theatre production FAG/STAG, as well as the encore season -  continuing the critical and commercial success. In 2024 he led Deus Ex Femina’s 5-Star award-winning Fringe show Dirty Energy and WHORE for Flinders University. 

    This year he was chosen to be an actor for the BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Sophie Hyde in her LAUNCH LAB Directors Workshop.

This residency has support from

 
 

strut residency

STRUT Residency 2025: Motus Collective

chloe metcalfe ·

We’re thrilled to announce Motus Collective as the recipient of our STRUT Residency for 2025.

Felicity and Zoe will be travelling to Perth to develop and present their second-stage development TRIFLE at STRUT Dance.

This residency unites national dance sectors by providing development opportunities for dance-makers across Australia.

About the artists:

  • Motus Collective was formed in 2019 by Adelaide College of the Arts graduates, Zoe Gay and Felicity Boyd.

    The collective was formed out of a desire to create a sense of community, to foster collaborations, expand performance opportunities, and to create a revenue of exploration and experimentation.

    Motus Collective began their journey hosting Improvisation and ‘Jam Sessions’, before conducting residencies through Australian Dance Theatre, The Mill, VitalStatistix and more. With a heavy importance being placed on inter-disciplinary collaboration, Motus Collective have worked extensively within the visual arts world including performing with Tom Borgas and Amber Cronin in HyperObject, created in Arthur Art Bar’s SA LA LA LAND program, worked with Fine Print Magazine in their live response to If the future is to be worth anything, performed Hiromi Tango’s Brain Flower at Splendour in The Grass, and more recently collaborated with eDuard Helmbold in Elegy of The Pale Lion for VitalStatistix.

    Motus Collective were selected to be Share House residents at Carclew in 2021, where they produced Open House, a platform for emerging artists to create and perform, and premiered White Rhino in the Adelaide Fringe, performing to sold out audiences and winning the ‘Best Emerging Artist’ award. 2022 saw Motus Collective premiere The Leftovers, a collaboration with sculptor Nicholas Hanisch, and were selected to be a part of the InSpace program through Adelaide Festival where they developed Trifle, a choreographic experiment melding clowning, cabaret and contemporary. In 2023, Motus Collective returned to the Adelaide Fringe with a remount of The Leftovers and collaborated with Dragon Mill on Unseen Fire Festival, a month long performance celebrating the Winter Solstice. 2024 saw Motus Collective present The Leftovers at the Space Theatre, produced in collaboration by Adelaide Festival Centre. In 2025, Motus Collective is focusing on building the independent sector within South Australia, by starting weekly free classes for professional dancers, and a monthly newsletter highlighting funding opportunities, classes, workshops and more happening within the state. 

  • Felicity is currently working as a dancer, choreographer and physical theatre performer based on Kaurna Yerta, South Australia. Felicity is the co-director of project-based dance company Motus Collective, founded in 2019 after returning from touring Q&A with ilYoung dance company in Sweden. Her practice involves a multi-disciplinary approach to dance.

    Felicity’s roles as a performer have most recently involved working for Lina Limosani on What Lurks on the Edge (2025), Requardt & Rosenberg (UK) on Future Cargo at the 2024 Adelaide Fringe, and as producer/performer in Motus Collective’s The Leftovers at the Space Theatre at Adelaide Festival Centre 2024. She has worked for Australian Dance Theatre as a replacement dancer on Garry Stewart’s South and toured and performed with Lewis Major Projects on Losers. She has worked with Tobiah Booth-Remmers, Eldad Ben-Sasson, Matan David and APHIDS. Felicity’s theatrical credits include Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s L’Hotel and Frank Theatre’s Chameleon, as well as Aaron Schuppan's short film Heavy Red.

    Felicity’s choreographic commissions include works for Australian Dance Theatre’s The World’s Smallest Stage, Vitalstatistix’ Adhocracy, Tom Borgas’ HyperObject, Dragon Mill’s Unseen Fire Festival and Motus Collective’s co-choreographed White Rhino (winner of Best Emerging Artist award 2021), Old Body, New Management and Trifle. 

    Felicity holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance) from Flinders University, and a Certificate IV in Commercial Dance from Gravity Studios. 

  • Zoe Gay is an independent contemporary dancer, choreographer, and producer based on Kaurna Land. A graduate of the Adelaide College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance), Zoe has collaborated with a range of acclaimed artists including Lee Brummer, Israel Aloni, Lina Limosani, Garry Stewart, Michelle Ryan, and Larissa McGowan. In 2019, she co-founded Motus Collective, through which she has developed and performed in projects such as Brain Flower by Hiromi Tango, eDuard Helmbold’s Elegy of The Pale Lion, and the Vitalstatistix Adhocracy program. Her co-choreographed work White Rhino won Best Emerging Artist at the 2021 Adelaide Fringe. She also directed The Leftovers, presented in both the 2022 and 2023 festivals.

    Zoe moved to Bergen, Norway in 2023, where she completed a choreographic residency at Bergen Dansesenter for a new work, Narrated by Cillian Murphy, worked for Borealis Music Festival as Ticketing Manager, and premiered Once More With Feeling in collaboration with Norwegian artist June Lysjø at Festival Danserom in Bergen. In 2024, Zoe returned to Australia to create and premiere On Not Knowing with the Bachelor dancers at Adelaide College of the Arts, and was commissioned by Adelaide Festival Centre to present The Leftovers at the Space Theatre.  Zoe’s choreographic work explores the space between realism and absurdism, often drawing from time paradoxes, thought experiments, and the complexities of the human condition—constantly returning to the universal stories that connect us all.

This residency has support from

 
 

scotch college residency

Scotch College Residency 2025: Steph Daughtry

Adele Sliuzas ·

We are thrilled to announce Steph Daughtry as the recipient of the 2025 Scotch College Residency.

In partnership with Scotch College, Steph will receive a five-week paid residency within the English Faculty. Aiming to help further develop students’ writing and communication skills responding to creative themes.

During this residency, Steph will be introducing students to personification and embodiment writing, challenging and inspiring students with daily writing focuses.

About the writer:

  • Steph is an award winning cross-disciplinary artist, producer, director, and writer working predominantly in live performance and installation.

    Specialising in collaborative and devised forms of theatre that explore social and environmental impacts, her credits include Brag Drunch (Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2023), The Fish Bowl (Best Theatre and Physical Theatre Award at the Adelaide Fringe in 2022), and Eating Tomorrow (Sustainability Award Adelaide Fringe 2021).

    Steph works as an independent freelance artist, as well as in her role as the co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of production company Post Dining, producing award-winning, innovative forms of entertainment and education designed to engage all the senses.

    Steph is currently completing her PhD as part of Uni SA Creative exploring the impact of cultural policy on the capacity for artists to engage in professional practice. As part of this research Steph has published in the Journal of Sociology exploring the impact of arts funding, and has previously written for Felt Space as part of their writers program, and published pieces in Fine Print magazine and The Skinny (Edinburgh). Steph looks forward to using her residency to translate her research into smaller digestible pieces that engage with the artistic community at The Mill and wider Adelaide. 

Photo: Bri Hammond

 

Presented in partnership with Scotch College

 
 
 

galleries, public program

Exhibition: In Reflection: In Response, curated by Stella Martino

Adele Sliuzas ·

Image: Filling in the Blank(et) - Stitching Stories by Elina Priha, Eline Gaudé, Stella Martino, Anna Kozonina, Martta Nieminen, Onerva Heikka

July 18 - September 5, 2025

Artist Talk: Friday, August 29, 5:30-6:30pm

Finissage: Friday, September 5, 4:30-6:30pm

Gallery I, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find In Reflection: In Response in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

For SALA Festival 2025, we are excited to present In Reflection: In Response, a new group exhibition curated by Stella Martino, featuring the work of five South Australian artists; Shani Engelbrecht (textiles), Tash Evele (textiles), Carman Skeehan (glass), Lotte Schwerdtfeger (ceramics) and Yana Lehey (sculpture). In Reflection: In Response has been developed through a collaborative, community-driven component led by Stella, who sites Ursula Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction in the conceptual underpinning of the exhibition.

For each of the artists, this exhibition has been an opportunity to come together, share ideas, collaborate, form communal bonds and develop their work. We’re excited to see the artists’ process, both in their individual practices and in creating collaborative work, showcased together in the gallery.

  • In Reflection: In Response is a group exhibition with collaboration at its core. This exhibition explores how we collect memories, experiences, time and stories and how we share them with our community. The idea of the exhibition is an extension of previous research and projects I (the curator) have been part of; a shared hand-sewn quilt, a collective recipe book and creative non-fiction short stories exploring the same themes. There are lots of little things that connect every project I undertake, but the single connecting thread is Ursula Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. Le Guin’s essay challenges the idea of stories that centre one individual and instead offers the viewpoint that stories are a collection of moments and experiences gathered over time. Le Guin uses the term ‘carrier bag’ as a figurative and literal image of how we collect things and put them in a vessel to save for a time when those things are shared amongst others. In this exhibition, you’ll find various forms of ‘carrier bags’ or vessels that have been created by each artist using their chosen medium. In each of the artists’ pieces are motifs and acknowledgements of one another. At the centre of this collaborative exhibition is a shared patchwork sampler created over three residency workshops hosted at The Mill. In these workshops, the artists were invited to use various fabrics and materials to hand-stitch, sew or embroider stories, memories and pieces of themselves that are important to them, their community and their practice. Each workshop was a chance for the artists and myself to spend time together, tell stories, ask questions, share skills, share food, share thoughts to create our collective ‘carrier bag’.

  • Stella Martino is an emerging curator and writer originally from Dharug/Sydney, now based in Tarndanya/Adelaide. Stella completed her Master of Arts (in Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art) from Aalto University in Finland in 2023. Since then, Stella has undertaken a curatorial internship at The Mill under the mentorship of visual arts curator Adele Sliuzas. While studying in Finland, Stella co-curated and was a participating artist in the group exhibition Ghost Elephant Stitches in the Snow and co-created and developed the community arts and recipe book Recipes for Resilience and Care in the Climate Emergency. Stella is interested in queer ecologies and how the more-than-human interacts with their environments and in art. Her master's thesis aimed to understand how various forms of memory inform storytelling and their impact on our well-being. Through her research and previous projects, Stella also explores the benefits of community care practices within and beyond art spaces.

  • Dear diary, is a homage to the diary I received from my cousins during my first trip to Fiji in 2013. I was homesick and used it to comfort myself, writing that I would be okay and that I’d be home soon. Since then, I’ve returned to the diary at the end of each year to write a letter to my future self. While some years were missed, the ritual has continued for almost a decade. I reflect on the year, set goals, and often end with, “Good luck, future me!” The diary has become a vessel carrying my past selves and hopes for the future.

    For this work, I recreated the diary cover using fabrics, sewing techniques and drawing to introduce softness and texture. I wove raffia along the edge to reference the handmade detailing of my original diary. I invited each artist in our group to write a letter to their future self and included my own past letters. I interpreted these letters into small fabric pieces, drawing from handwriting styles to create visual textures. A single thread connects all elements, symbolising a shared stream of consciousness linking our thoughts, hopes, and futures.

    Shani Engelbrecht (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist of Indo-Fijian and Scottish-Irish heritage, creating and living on Kaurna Land, South Australia. She holds an Honours degree in Visual Arts (2022) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts (2021) from Flinders University. Her work predominantly explores her identity and sense of belonging in the space she grew up in. Race and identity are at the core of Engelbrecht’s practice as she interrogates the incidences of racism experienced by people of colour daily. By using performance, photography, video, drawing and painting, her work blends traditional and contemporary techniques to convey the duality of her upbringing and to reflect on the feelings of otherness. Engelbrecht has shown works in multiple exhibitions including Art That Walks OFF the Walls (Goodwood Theatre & Studios 2024), Hatched: National Graduate Show Exhibition (Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 2023), not white/not brown (FELTspace 2023).

  • The Pools explore connection between artists, family, community, and the wider world. I have always felt a profound safety and sense of calm when standing in the sea. Wherever I am in the world, wherever my loved ones may be, we have the ocean between us.

    Each rockpool in the installation acts as a miniature world, a reflection of the individual artists featured in the exhibition. Crafted with care and intention, these rockpools are filled with ocean treasures I collected alongside my family. When holidaying together recently, we collected shells, sponges, sea glass and more, embedding the work with personal memory, gratitude and the quiet power of shared experience.

    I asked each artist in our collective to do their own reflection on special memories at the beach. The photos provided are stitched together and mixed media is used to add elements of interest.

    By recreating these small tidal worlds, I wanted to honour both the individuality of each artist and the collective beauty of community.This installation is a reminder that, even in our own tiny ecosystems, we are part of something vast, unexplored and deeply interconnected.

    Broken mirror fragments embedded within the pools invite literal and figurative reflection from the viewer. Finally, a single, continuous rope, weaves through the work, tethering us together as one. The rope itself was made by attaching discarded, found fragments together to create one connecting string.

    Calamity Tash, local queer Craft Wizard, believes art is for everyone and is most passionate about inclusivity and accessibility to the creative arts. Over the last decade Tash has been skill sharing with communities across the globe. The spreading of craft joy will continue as Tash becomes an enthusiastic resident at The Mill. Tash’s signature sparkle and use of whimsical dolls have been her wearable art trademark. Calamity Tash joins us on a journey of self expression and discovery. Her private studio will see the creation of many a weird and wonderful thing.

  • I put it here so I wouldn’t forget

    I’ve always kept small things—gifts, fragments, found objects—on a little rack at home. It’s where I put pieces of the world that feel like mine: tiny markers of memory, small gestures of joy. For this exhibition, I’ve made a version of that rack in glass. Each object is a response—to the time shared, the conversations, the stitching, the slowness of sitting beside others and making something by hand. A clover. A safety pin. A necklace. Teeth. A bag. Candles, pencils, thread.

    These are replicas of real things, made in glass, they feel a little removed from the world, but still intimate—fragile, exact, sometimes strange. They hold the trace of someone’s story, or a moment passed between us.

    Ursula Le Guin reminds us that stories aren’t always linear or heroic—they can be soft vessels, carriers of collective experience. That idea stayed with me as we stitched and talked and shared time.

    This shelf is both archive and offering. A way of holding memory that isn’t fixed, but refracted—through glass, through time, through others. In the making, I’ve come to know, understand, and appreciate the group I’ve worked alongside—through their stories, their hands, their quiet generosity. It’s a collection of small things that don’t belong to just me, gathered with care and left open to interpretation.

    Carman Skeehan is a glass artist and maker, living in Adelaide, South Australia. Having completed the Jam Factory associate program in 2023, Carman has hit a milestone in her work, elevating her artistic practice. Guided by the meticulous creative process, Carman centres her work on the art of storytelling through glass, exploring the intersection of narrative and materials. Skeehan draws inspiration from early oil paintings and still lifes, creating a unique likeness in glass materials. Her work is an exploration of these elements, seamlessly blending them to create unique and compelling pieces of art.

  • A human thing: useful, edible, or beautiful 

    A leaf, a gourd, a shell, a net, a bag, a sling a sack a bottle a pot a box a container, a Sea Sponge Vessel

    My practice has often included collaborations with artists, working in tandem and responding to each other's work, presence and life; creating and complicating narratives and expanding our boundaries together. The residencies sessions to create a textile work were both daunting and exuberant, in facilitating connecting between a group of relative strangers. I followed this formula, inviting the participating artists to visit my studio and work one on one alongside me on a large scale ceramic vessel.

    After hand-building a very large vase shape with thick walls; I guided each artist in technique, and together we cut away pieces from the vessel, creating a delicate lattice structure.

    This ‘porous vessel’ references a net, basketry or fish trap, objects often traditionally crafted in group settings. It is a vessel to capture our experiences and time spent getting to know each other.

    Whilst our hands were busy and eyes averted, conversation through joint work facilitated deeper connection.

    To further this metaphor we created beads from offcuts of clay, stringing together our work and experience into a continuous thread of coral fragments.

    My ceramic works repeatedly reference motifs of sea creatures such as corals and sponges. These colonial animals have become symbols of the fragility of nature, as the first flag of the environmental system collapses. However these foundation species, the architects of ecosystems have long endured climate fluctuations across deep geological time. Just as algae and animal cells cooperate to build a reef and it is only by collaborating that humanity can create the narrative of our future.

    Lotte Schwerdtfeger is an artist and is currently a studio tenant at the JamFactory Ceramics Studio, Tarndanya/Adelaide. She is materially led across many mediums, being consistently drawn to ceramic processes. Lotte hand builds ceramics, coiling and pinching both functional, sculptural and installation works; combining tendrils of research which span anthropology, biology, symbolism and revelry in the small psychedelic moments of existence. Lotte is delighted by the alchemical and elemental processes of ceramics. She is always intrigued by the role of objects, quotidian and ritual, in defining and connecting human and nonhuman experiences. Lotte is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts; regularly working on commission, collaborative projects and gallery exhibitions. Where possible all materials are salvaged, reused and recycled, working towards a zero waste practice.

  • As Above, So Below

    Chews Wisely

    Throughout my varied practice, the project has dictated the medium.  Thus I have picked up a middling aptitude for various techniques, collecting skills like baubles.  The ones I handled and polished the longest are those I have wanted or enjoyed since childhood.

    This trend continues into my contribution to In Reflection: In Response.  In the techniques employed and the stories shared, there is an odd tension between nostalgia and hope.  The nostalgic anecdotes swapped within the group prompted me to choose floral motifs in my embroidery: common European plants which carpeted the meadows of my childhood, but struggle in the cracks here. 

    I explored Irish lace in an attempt to connect with a heritage of which I retain only a bastardised surname.  The scale of my work lent itself to constructing wisdom teeth in response to the surprisingly common conversations about teeth in our midst.  As we were encouraged to read Ursula LeGuin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, I came to think of the mouth as a carrier bag of stories.  Five teeth, five stories; wisdom optional.

    Yana Lehey is an environmentally motivated visual artist based on Kaurna land. Her practice spans various mediums, covering drawing, painting, and sculpture, depending on what a project calls for. Most recently, she has applied a textile approach to petroleum-based waste materials like plastic and rubber on a large scale, creating oversized crocheted sculptural works. She developed the necessary techniques as an accessible means for every person to tackle the waste problem without the need for expensive technology and infrastructure. Yana’s interest in environmental art first started to gain traction in 2020, with her first solo exhibition Face Up, featuring monumentally scaled watercolour portraits of nine young climate activists from diverse cultural backgrounds with diverse approaches. The research behind this project formed the basis for Yana’s current practice.

This exhibition has support from

galleries, public program

Exhibition: Erin Renfrey, Once Upon a Lemon Drop

Adele Sliuzas ·

Image: Erin Renfrey, Past, Present and Future (Elspeth, Harold and Doris)

July 18 - September 5, 2025

Finissage: Friday, September 5, 4:30-6:30pm

Gallery II, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find Erin’s exhibition in The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

For SALA Festival 2025, we are excited to present Once Upon a Lemon Drop, a new solo exhibition by watercolour artist Erin Renfrey. Invoking a sense of childlike curiosity, Erin’s compositions encourage us to see the world through new eyes.

Familiar and friendly faces co-exist with unexpected, sinister and uncanny characters, and just like a Grimm fairytale, we are drawn into a conversation about social mores and societal expectations.

  • In Once Upon a Lemon Drop, I am presenting a collection of new, intriguing watercolour paintings. My work reveals an otherworldly journey through the lives of fantastical creatures as they search for communion with each other and the universe. Hieronymus Bosch, theatre, and vintage illustrations are just some of my sources of inspiration.

    My process involves meticulously layering watercolour on paper and panel to create colourful and eye-catching imagery. Each work begins with daydreaming and doodling, which becomes conceptually realised through thrifted toys and handmade miniatures, functioning as a guide for form, light and shadow, and composition.

  • Erin is an emerging artist based on Kaurna Land. She commenced her Bachelor of Creative Arts at Flinders University and Adelaide College of the Arts in 2020 and graduated in 2023. In the same year she was selected for the Helpmann Graduate Exhibition, receiving the Hill Smith Art Advisory Award and Square Holes Award. She has since been a finalist in the Adelaide Parklands Art Prize and exhibited at BMGArt, Collective Haunt and St. Peters Town Hall.

    Erin is currently a studio resident at The Mill.

This exhibition has support from

first nations dance, public program

First Nations Choreographic Lab Showing

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

Showing and Q&A

When: Friday, August 1, 6-7pm

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

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. This event will be 1 hour (including a Q&A)

  • Getting to the 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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Join us for a work-in-progress showing by choreographer Kaine Sultan-Babij, developed through The Mill’s First Nations Choreographic Lab in 2025.

This first stage development will explore movement based on cultural understandings and use of Aboriginal artefacts.

Over four days, Kaine will co-facilitate the lab with Caleena Sansbury, The Mill’s First Nations Dance Program Coordinator, working with dancers Keisha Barrow, Tiarna Power and Rikki Wilson.

The Mill’s First Nations Choreographic Lab is a program designed to create performance outcomes while supporting emerging and mid-career First Nations dancers in South Australia.

About the Facilitators:

  • 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.

  • Caleena Sansbury is a prominent First Nations artist whose diverse background and extensive experience have established her as a leading figure in the arts. Her heritage, encompassing Ngarrindjeri, Narungga, and Kaurna cultures, deeply influences her work and perspective.

    A graduate of NAISDA Dance College, Caleena’s career spans various disciplines including performance, choreography, and program coordination. She has showcased her talents on both national and international stages, working with respected artists and companies.

    Her notable collaborations include:

    • Vicki Van Hout on productions like Long Grass and Les Festivities Lubrufier.

    • Thomas E. S. Kelly on the performance work [MIS]CONCEIVE.

    • Karul Projects on the piece SSHIFT.

    Caleena’s experience extends to children's theatre, where she has performed in shows produced by InSite Arts such as Saltbush and Our Corka Bubs, and with Polyglot Theatre in Tangled. Her work demonstrates a deep understanding of both dance and theatre, particularly in contexts involving young audiences.

    In addition to her performance career, she has contributed to theatre as an actor in Legs On the Wall’s The Man With The Iron Neck and has showcased her organizational skills as a producer for the Melbourne Fringe in 2018. She has also toured South Australia with Taree Sansbury’s Mi:wi 2019, and performed in Jacob Boheme’s dance work Gurranda in 2024. Caleena continues to perform and practice dance in and throughout South Australia. 

    Currently, Caleena is a Program Coordinator at The Mill, an award-winning multi-disciplinary arts organisation. Her role at The Mill continues to reflect her commitment to fostering a vibrant and dynamic First Nations arts community.

This project has support from

 
 

public program, first nations dance

First Nations Dance Program: Dance Classes

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photos: Bri Hammond.

July 30 - September 17, 2025

Every Wednesday between July 30 to September 17, 6:30-7:30pm

AC Arts, Level 3, Rehearsal Studio, Kaurna Yarta

Free (no need to register tickets!)

  • Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We are partnering with AC Arts to present contemporary dance technique classes for First Nations dancers.

These classes are open to First Nations dancers only, interested in contemporary dance and for those who wish to maintain their dance technique.

Classes will be held at AC Arts every Wednesday between July 30 to September 17.

What to expect:

A mixture of South Australian-based facilitators will give a variety and mixture of different contemporary styles, including Indigenous infused movements depending on the dance facilitator.

If you have any questions, please contact The Mill’s Program Coordinator Caleena Sansbury, her working days are Mondays and Tuesdays.

This program has support from

 
 

theatre residency, public program

Theatre Residency: Katherine Sortini, Beneath the Mountain

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Photos by Jamois

Showing and Q&A

When: Friday, August 22, 6-7pm

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

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. This event will be 1 hour (including a Q&A). 

  • This showing and Q&A will be held in The Breakout. Please come to The Mill 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 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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Beneath the Mountain is an ambitious new interdisciplinary theatrical work that confronts the invisible and undervalued labor inherent in motherhood and domestic life.

Developed and produced by Deus Ex Femina, the production integrates spoken word, live music, theatre, and physical performance to explore the quiet violences of emotional labor and the slow erosion of autonomy within domestic settings. Inspired by Aesop’s fable The Mountain in Labour, the work interrogates the disparity between the lofty expectations of caregiving and the isolating, complex realities experienced by women; particularly within heterosexual relationships. It asks: what happens when women are expected to be everything to everyone, and what remains beneath the weight of it all?

The show’s narrative structure is built from a series of non-linear, thematically connected vignettes, culminating in a central arc that follows WIFE and HUSBAND; a newly married couple who, after falling pregnant, experience the gradual collapse of their relationship under the pressure of societal roles. WIFE, while navigating her pregnancy, is increasingly left to carry the household and emotional burden alone as HUSBAND becomes more disengaged, controlling, and emotionally absent.

During this development residency at The Mill, we will test the narrative structure, key moments, and thematic throughline. Audiences can expect an evocative and personal exploration of caregiving’s emotional and physical impact.

About the artists:

  • Katherine (she/they) is a queer, first-generation Italian theatre maker, actor, writer, and founder of Deus Ex Femina. A 2018 Honours graduate from Flinders Drama Centre, Katherine’s work spans acting, producing, dramaturgy, directing, and spoken word poetry.

    In 2023, Katherine won the Australian Poetry Slam South Australian Heat and performed at the Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House. Their debut show All The Things I Couldn’t Say won the Adelaide Festival InSpace Award at the Adelaide Fringe. It was then chosen to premiere in theRUMPUS 2023 Season. Their show Dirty Energy won the Holden Street Theatre Award at the Adelaide Fringe. Both shows had sold out seasons.

    Katherine and Deus Ex Femina hold a two-year residency at Goodwood Theatre & Studios (2025–2026) and were selected for The Mill’s Theatre Residency for Beneath the Mountain (2025). The other production within the residency, Scenes with Girls, was chosen for State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2025 Stateside program.

    In 2022, Katherine was nominated and selected as a finalist for the 7 News Young Achiever Award. In 2024, she was again recognised for her contributions to the arts and community, becoming a finalist for the South Australian Italian Awards in the category of Young Achiever, as well as being nominated for the Frank Ford Young Achiever Award at the Ruby Awards. Also in 2024, she was selected to be a part of the Helpmann Academy Creative Innovators Co-Hort and won the State Theatre Company of South Australia award which provides mentorship throughout 2025.

  • Elizabeth is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and lives and works as an actor on unceded Kaurna land. Her theatre credits include The Dictionary of Lost Words, Girl From The North Country (GWB and Damien Hewitt), Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers, Red Cross Letters, Volpone and Jesikah for the State Theatre Company South Australia, Baba Yaga, Grug and Grug and the Rainbow for Windmill Theatre Company, Yo Diddle Diddle and The Lighthouse for Patch Theatre Company, the Helpmann Award winning Emil and the Detectives for Slingsby, and Emily Steel’s The Garden with Theatre Republic.

    Elizabeth made her directing debut in the inaugural season of RUMPUS at the end of 2019, with Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, and continues grow as a director. 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. Elizabeth is the voice of Olli in Sun Runners, a collaboration between Audioplay and Windmill Theatre Company.

  • Nate is an award-winning, multidisciplinary theatre facilitator, educator, performer, and researcher whose work spans genres, continents, and communities. Trained at the Victorian College of the Arts in Naarm and currently based in Tarntanya, he has created and performed across Australia, the Netherlands, and the USA.

    Nate is currently completing Honours at Flinders University under Dr. Sarah Peters, researching an “inside-out” model for inclusive, participant-led devised theatre—centering artists’ intrinsic creative agency over imposed frameworks. As a queer, disabled artist of culturally and linguistically diverse background, Nate’s practice is grounded in accessibility and cultural equity. He has facilitated with SAYarts, Riverland Youth Theatre, Open Space Contemporary Arts, and ActNow Theatre, and mentors emerging artists from marginalised backgrounds.

    Most recently, he has mentored young Narungga playwright Mali Harkin-Noack in developing her first full-length plays, including Tell Me Something, which will be featured in the Adelaide Festival Centre’s 2026 inSPACE program and Our Mob Festival. Nate has been funded by Carclew to create improvisation-based writing tools for learning-disabled young artists, and to develop and run their first theatre intensive school holiday program for young people. He is currently collaborating with Fleur Kilpatrick on Beginnings—a new work exploring donor conception and non-traditional families.

    As one half of theatre-trash duo Muse of Fire, Nate’s creative ethos is irreverent, collaborative, and fiercely inclusive—reimagining theatre as a space where difference is celebrated, and access drives innovation.

  • Steven is a multi-talented live theatre technician and lighting designer. He has worked on numerous of productions such as NUISIA & KINDER by a ry production, The Ugly One by Famous Last Words, I Know The End by Alix Kuijpers, That's Amore by Kate Burgess and is the in-house technician for Goodwood Theatre & Studios. He has been apart of shows for indie, amateur and professional productions of all types. In his off-time he produces music, graphic designs, video edits and has used those skills towards productions.

Photo: Bri Hammond

This residency has support from

 
 

galleries, public program

Artist Talk: In Reflection: In Response

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Daniel Marks

Artist Talk

When: Friday, August 29, 5:30-6:30pm

Gallery I, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find In Reflection: In Response in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

Join Stella Martino for a chat about In Reflection: In Response, presented during SALA Festival.

Stella will be chatting with artists Carman Skeehan, Shani Engelbrecht and Yana Lehey, talking about the inspiration behind the exhibition and their artistic process.

About the exhibition

In Reflection: In Response is a group exhibition curated by Stella Martino, featuring the work of five South Australian artists; Shani Engelbrecht (textiles), Tash Evele (textiles), Carman Skeehan (glass), Lotte Schwerdtfeger (ceramics) and Yana Lehey (sculpture). In Reflection: In Response has been developed through a collaborative, community-driven component led by Stella, who sites Ursula Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction in the conceptual underpinning of the exhibition.

For each of the artists, this exhibition has been an opportunity to come together, share ideas, collaborate, form communal bonds and develop their work. We’re excited to see the artists’ process, both in their individual practices and in creating collaborative work, showcased together in the gallery.

  • Stella Martino is an emerging curator and writer originally from Dharug/Sydney, now based in Tarndanya/Adelaide. Stella completed her Master of Arts (in Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art) from Aalto University in Finland in 2023. Since then, Stella has undertaken a curatorial internship at The Mill under the mentorship of visual arts curator Adele Sliuzas. While studying in Finland, Stella co-curated and was a participating artist in the group exhibition Ghost Elephant Stitches in the Snow and co-created and developed the community arts and recipe book Recipes for Resilience and Care in the Climate Emergency. Stella is interested in queer ecologies and how the more-than-human interacts with their environments and in art. Her master's thesis aimed to understand how various forms of memory inform storytelling and their impact on our well-being. Through her research and previous projects, Stella also explores the benefits of community care practices within and beyond art spaces.

  • I put it here so I wouldn’t forget

    I’ve always kept small things—gifts, fragments, found objects—on a little rack at home. It’s where I put pieces of the world that feel like mine: tiny markers of memory, small gestures of joy. For this exhibition, I’ve made a version of that rack in glass. Each object is a response—to the time shared, the conversations, the stitching, the slowness of sitting beside others and making something by hand. A clover. A safety pin. A necklace. Teeth. A bag. Candles, pencils, thread.

    These are replicas of real things, made in glass, they feel a little removed from the world, but still intimate—fragile, exact, sometimes strange. They hold the trace of someone’s story, or a moment passed between us.

    Ursula Le Guin reminds us that stories aren’t always linear or heroic—they can be soft vessels, carriers of collective experience. That idea stayed with me as we stitched and talked and shared time.

    This shelf is both archive and offering. A way of holding memory that isn’t fixed, but refracted—through glass, through time, through others. In the making, I’ve come to know, understand, and appreciate the group I’ve worked alongside—through their stories, their hands, their quiet generosity. It’s a collection of small things that don’t belong to just me, gathered with care and left open to interpretation.

    Carman Skeehan is a glass artist and maker, living in Adelaide, South Australia. Having completed the Jam Factory associate program in 2023, Carman has hit a milestone in her work, elevating her artistic practice. Guided by the meticulous creative process, Carman centres her work on the art of storytelling through glass, exploring the intersection of narrative and materials. Skeehan draws inspiration from early oil paintings and still lifes, creating a unique likeness in glass materials. Her work is an exploration of these elements, seamlessly blending them to create unique and compelling pieces of art.

  • Dear diary, is a homage to the diary I received from my cousins during my first trip to Fiji in 2013. I was homesick and used it to comfort myself, writing that I would be okay and that I’d be home soon. Since then, I’ve returned to the diary at the end of each year to write a letter to my future self. While some years were missed, the ritual has continued for almost a decade. I reflect on the year, set goals, and often end with, “Good luck, future me!” The diary has become a vessel carrying my past selves and hopes for the future.

    For this work, I recreated the diary cover using fabrics, sewing techniques and drawing to introduce softness and texture. I wove raffia along the edge to reference the handmade detailing of my original diary. I invited each artist in our group to write a letter to their future self and included my own past letters. I interpreted these letters into small fabric pieces, drawing from handwriting styles to create visual textures. A single thread connects all elements, symbolising a shared stream of consciousness linking our thoughts, hopes, and futures.

    Shani Engelbrecht (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist of Indo-Fijian and Scottish-Irish heritage, creating and living on Kaurna Land, South Australia. She holds an Honours degree in Visual Arts (2022) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts (2021) from Flinders University. Her work predominantly explores her identity and sense of belonging in the space she grew up in. Race and identity are at the core of Engelbrecht’s practice as she interrogates the incidences of racism experienced by people of colour daily. By using performance, photography, video, drawing and painting, her work blends traditional and contemporary techniques to convey the duality of her upbringing and to reflect on the feelings of otherness. Engelbrecht has shown works in multiple exhibitions including Art That Walks OFF the Walls (Goodwood Theatre & Studios 2024), Hatched: National Graduate Show Exhibition (Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 2023), not white/not brown (FELTspace 2023).

  • As Above, So Below

    Chews Wisely

    Throughout my varied practice, the project has dictated the medium.  Thus I have picked up a middling aptitude for various techniques, collecting skills like baubles.  The ones I handled and polished the longest are those I have wanted or enjoyed since childhood.

    This trend continues into my contribution to In Reflection: In Response.  In the techniques employed and the stories shared, there is an odd tension between nostalgia and hope.  The nostalgic anecdotes swapped within the group prompted me to choose floral motifs in my embroidery: common European plants which carpeted the meadows of my childhood, but struggle in the cracks here. 

    I explored Irish lace in an attempt to connect with a heritage of which I retain only a bastardised surname.  The scale of my work lent itself to constructing wisdom teeth in response to the surprisingly common conversations about teeth in our midst.  As we were encouraged to read Ursula LeGuin’s The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, I came to think of the mouth as a carrier bag of stories.  Five teeth, five stories; wisdom optional.

    Yana Lehey is an environmentally motivated visual artist based on Kaurna land. Her practice spans various mediums, covering drawing, painting, and sculpture, depending on what a project calls for. Most recently, she has applied a textile approach to petroleum-based waste materials like plastic and rubber on a large scale, creating oversized crocheted sculptural works. She developed the necessary techniques as an accessible means for every person to tackle the waste problem without the need for expensive technology and infrastructure. Yana’s interest in environmental art first started to gain traction in 2020, with her first solo exhibition Face Up, featuring monumentally scaled watercolour portraits of nine young climate activists from diverse cultural backgrounds with diverse approaches. The research behind this project formed the basis for Yana’s current practice.

This exhibition has support from

public program

Studio Tours

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Bri Hammond.

June - November, 2025

Fortnightly tours alternating Tuesdays, 11am, and Fridays, 4:30pm

The Mill Foyer, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

45 minutes duration

Free entry, all welcome

  • The Mill’s monthly Studio Tours will begin in the Foyer at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We’re excited to announce fortnightly studio tours at The Mill, taking you behind the scenes of our 60+ studio resident community.

Starting this June, we’ll be opening our doors for fortnightly tours on alternating Tuesdays and Fridays; inviting audiences to explore our studios and engage with our community.

Whether you're an art lover, a curious wanderer, or just keen to see creativity in motion, these tours promise inspiration and new connections at every turn.

Social clubs, community organisations and groups of 6+ can register for private tours by emailing info@themilladelaide.com.

first nations residency, public program

First Nations Dance Residency: Kaine Sultan-Babij, Sovereign Sequins

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

Showing and Q&A

When: Friday, September 5, 6-7pm

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Kaine Sultan-Babij weaves contemporary Indigenous dance with the bold artistry of drag, creating a performance that is full of life, movement, and storytelling.

The show journeys through themes of identity, culture, and self-expression, exploring how character and movement can speak as powerfully as words.

With playful twists, striking visuals, and moments of heartfelt emotion, it’s a performance that celebrates creativity, connection, and the joy of embracing who we are.

This is a second-stage development, as part of our First Nations Dance Residency program 2024-2025.

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.

Photo: Bri Hammond

This residency has support from

 
 

galleries, public program

LIMITLESS 2025 Fundraiser Exhibition

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

September 17 - October 10

Opening event: Friday, September 19, 5:30-8pm

Finissage: Friday, October 10, 4:30-6:30pm

Galleries, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

Please note we are not open on Monday, October 6, due to the public holiday.

  • You can find LIMITLESS in our galleries, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Our galleries are open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We are excited to present LIMITLESS, our annual fundraising exhibition shining a light on over 200 local artists.

This exhibition will raise funds for The Mill; a vibrant, creative home where artists collaborate, experiment and take risks. It will also celebrate the abundance of artistic talent within the South Australian visual arts community, including work by our studio artists and alumni, visual arts students and graduates and local artist studio collectives.

We invite you to find your favourite piece to add to your collection.

All A5 artworks are priced at $100, with artists working in diverse mediums and styles. The exhibition features emerging alongside established artists, with all artists’ names kept anonymous in the exhibition. Artist’s names and details will be revealed when the buyer takes the work home. 

Sales from this fundraising exhibition support the artist and The Mill, helping us to continue championing artistic experimentation in our fantastic state.

  • Abbey Rawson, Adam iljee, Adele Justice, Aisha Sultan, Alice Hu, Alison von der Borch, Alix Rogerson, Ana Koch, Andrea Sainsbury, Angela De Palma, Anna Goodhind, Anna Horne, Annelise Forster, Annie Millard, Anthea Jones, Ariela Rose, Ashley Mossman, August Porter, Aya Trevisan, Ayesha Aggarwal, Aysh Field, Belinda Guerin, Bella Bianchini, Beverley Southcott, Bianca Joanna Buliga, Billy Oakley, Blakesby, Brent Leideritz, Bri Hammond, Bridget Uppill, Bridgette Minuzzo, Cam, Cameron Read, Caitlin Mohr, Callum Docherty, Carina Lee, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Carmen Alcedo, Carolyn Corletto, Celia Dunne, Charlotte Meekins, Chin Ton (Naomi) Tang, Christiane Niess, Christine Cholewa, Crista Bradshaw, Cynthia Schwertsik, Dai Trang Nguyen, Danielle Festejo, Danika Nedić, Danny Jarratt, David Markus, David Musch, David Smith, Debbie Lord, Deborah Smalley, Delphine Allert, Donna Hedstrom Gold, Eleanor Alice, Ella Pietsch, Emiko Artemis, Emily Boswell, Emma Helana, Erin Renfrey, Evie Hassiotis, Evy Moschakis, Fran Callen, Gail Hocking, Gassan Aqel, Gemma Fettke, George Gilles, Georgia Price, Hamish Fleming, Holley Rentsch, Indygo Kidd, Isabella Bianchini, Isabella Nunez, Jacqueline Eyers, Jacqueline Lagonik, Jada Sharp, Jade Zander, Jen Gibson-Smith, Jen Trantor, Jennifer Eadie, Jennifer Joy O'Neill, Jenny Berry, Jessica Harrison, Jingwei Bu, Joe Felber, John Hopkinson, John Hopkinson, Jonathan Pearce, Juliane Brandt, Juliet Michell, Juliette Thomas, K Raams, Kaitlyn Manko, Kari Cooper, Kat Ordway, Kate Cuthbert, Keeks, Kelly Rowe, Kimberly Lane, Kristy Lee Bennets, Kristyan Evele, Lachlan Mackenzie, Lara Kittel, Laura Gent, Lauren Kathleen, Leah Leventeris, Leanne Rowett, Leigh Warren, Leila Koth, Leon Ferrente, Liliana Pasalic, Lily Peard, Lin Markus, Linda Andary, Linda Robin, Lisa Khan, Lotte Schwerdtfeger, Lucky Smith, Lydia Eden, Lyn Anstey, Lynette Fisher, Madeleine Coates, Maggie Robson, Makeda Duong, Marisha Matthews, Mark Judd, Martine Whalley, Meg Mader, Meg Riley, Melanie Cooper, Mel Heatley, Melissa Au, Melody Marshall, Michelle Yazbeck, Miranda Bede, Molly Pfeiffer, Monty Flora, Nadera Rasulova, Nicolas Ottavio Saccardo, Nicole Haynes, Oliver Gerhard, Olivia Isherwood, Olivia Kathigitis, Patricia Walton, Patricia Walton, Peter Baka, Peter Francisco, Poppy, Rebecca O'Leary, Rebekah Rocca, Renata Rozenbilds, Robert Viner-Jones, Robert Wuldi, Romina Ienco, Roy Ananda, Sahara Trevisan, Sair Bean, Sakthivel Eakambaranathan, Sam Wiechula, Sara Boni, Sarah McDonald, Sarah Subritzky, Sascha Ševelj, Sayge Conniff, Seb Calabretto, Shalini Kacker, Shirlinda Elston, Simone Kennedy, Simone Wise, Siobhan Harley, Sophia Bedford, Stephanie Doddridge, Stephanie Radok, Stu Nankivell, Sue Ninham, Suzie Lockery, Susan Charlton, Tash Evele, Timothy Gambell, Thomas Readett, Tom Borgas, Tom Philips, Tori Nguyen, Vern Schulz, Wendy Campbell, Will Nolan, Xinyue Yan, Yana Lehey, Yolanda Boag and more to come!

galleries, public program

Finissage: LIMITLESS 2025 Fundraiser Exhibition

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

October 10

Finissage: Friday, October 10, 4:30-6:30pm

Galleries, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find LIMITLESS in our galleries, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Our galleries are open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We invite you to join us for the finissage event for LIMITLESS 2025, an opportunity for artists and creative industry professionals to network, and celebrate the work of over 200 local artists.

This exhibition will raise funds for The Mill; a vibrant, creative home where artists collaborate, experiment and take risks. It will also celebrate the abundance of artistic talent within the South Australian visual arts community, including work by our studio artists and alumni, visual arts students and graduates and local artist studio collectives.

We invite you to find your favourite piece to add to your collection. This closing event is a last chance to buy a work from LIMITLESS 2025.

All A5 artworks are priced at $100, with artists working in diverse mediums and styles. The exhibition features emerging alongside established artists, with all artists’ names kept anonymous in the exhibition. Artist’s names and details will be revealed when the buyer takes the work home. 

Sales from this fundraising exhibition support the artist and The Mill, helping us to continue championing artistic experimentation in our fantastic state.

  • Abbey Rawson, Adam iljee, Adele Justice, Aisha Sultan, Alice Hu, Alison von der Borch, Alix Rogerson, Ana Koch, Andrea Sainsbury, Angela De Palma, Anna Goodhind, Anna Horne, Annelise Forster, Annie Millard, Anthea Jones, Ariela Rose, Ashley Mossman, August Porter, Aya Trevisan, Ayesha Aggarwal, Aysh Field, Belinda Guerin, Bella Bianchini, Beverley Southcott, Bianca Joanna Buliga, Billy Oakley, Blakesby, Brent Leideritz, Bri Hammond, Bridget Uppill, Bridgette Minuzzo, Cam, Cameron Read, Caitlin Mohr, Callum Docherty, Carina Lee, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Carmen Alcedo, Carolyn Corletto, Celia Dunne, Charlotte Meekins, Chin Ton (Naomi) Tang, Christiane Niess, Christine Cholewa, Crista Bradshaw, Cynthia Schwertsik, Dai Trang Nguyen, Danielle Festejo, Danika Nedić, Danny Jarratt, David Markus, David Musch, David Smith, Debbie Lord, Deborah Smalley, Delphine Allert, Donna Hedstrom Gold, Eleanor Alice, Ella Pietsch, Emiko Artemis, Emily Boswell, Emma Helana, Erin Renfrey, Evie Hassiotis, Evy Moschakis, Fran Callen, Gail Hocking, Gassan Aqel, Gemma Fettke, George Gilles, Georgia Price, Hamish Fleming, Holley Rentsch, Indygo Kidd, Isabella Bianchini, Isabella Nunez, Jacqueline Eyers, Jacqueline Lagonik, Jada Sharp, Jade Zander, Jen Gibson-Smith, Jen Trantor, Jennifer Eadie, Jennifer Joy O'Neill, Jenny Berry, Jessica Harrison, Jingwei Bu, Joe Felber, John Hopkinson, John Hopkinson, Jonathan Pearce, Juliane Brandt, Juliet Michell, Juliette Thomas, K Raams, Kaitlyn Manko, Kari Cooper, Kat Ordway, Kate Cuthbert, Keeks, Kelly Rowe, Kimberly Lane, Kristy Lee Bennets, Kristyan Evele, Lachlan Mackenzie, Lara Kittel, Laura Gent, Lauren Kathleen, Leah Leventeris, Leanne Rowett, Leigh Warren, Leila Koth, Leon Ferrente, Liliana Pasalic, Lily Peard, Lin Markus, Linda Andary, Linda Robin, Lisa Khan, Lotte Schwerdtfeger, Lucky Smith, Lydia Eden, Lyn Anstey, Lynette Fisher, Madeleine Coates, Maggie Robson, Makeda Duong, Marisha Matthews, Mark Judd, Martine Whalley, Meg Mader, Meg Riley, Melanie Cooper, Mel Heatley, Melissa Au, Melody Marshall, Michelle Yazbeck, Miranda Bede, Molly Pfeiffer, Monty Flora, Nadera Rasulova, Nicolas Ottavio Saccardo, Nicole Haynes, Oliver Gerhard, Olivia Isherwood, Olivia Kathigitis, Patricia Walton, Patricia Walton, Peter Baka, Peter Francisco, Poppy, Rebecca O'Leary, Rebekah Rocca, Renata Rozenbilds, Robert Viner-Jones, Robert Wuldi, Romina Ienco, Roy Ananda, Sahara Trevisan, Sair Bean, Sakthivel Eakambaranathan, Sam Wiechula, Sara Boni, Sarah McDonald, Sarah Subritzky, Sascha Ševelj, Sayge Conniff, Seb Calabretto, Shalini Kacker, Shirlinda Elston, Simone Kennedy, Simone Wise, Siobhan Harley, Sophia Bedford, Stephanie Doddridge, Stephanie Radok, Stu Nankivell, Sue Ninham, Suzie Lockery, Susan Charlton, Tash Evele, Timothy Gambell, Thomas Readett, Tom Borgas, Tom Philips, Tori Nguyen, Vern Schulz, Wendy Campbell, Will Nolan, Xinyue Yan, Yana Lehey, Yolanda Boag and more to come!

public program, galleries

Exhibition: Walytja munu Ngura, Art and Films from the Aṉangu Lands Partnership

Adele Sliuzas ·

Image: Supplied

June 25 - July 11, 2025

Galleries I & II, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find the Waltja munu ngura exhibition in The Mill’s Galleries, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    The Mill’s Galleries are open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We are excited to present Walytja munu Ngura, a new exhibition of Art and Films from the Anangu Schools Lands Partnership, Department for Education, South Australia.

June 25-nguru July 11-kutu, 2025

Galleries 1 & 2, 154 Angas St, Kaurna tjutaku ngurangka

Nganana pulkara pukularinyi nyuranya nintintjaku Walytja munu Ngura, exhibition kuwaritja, panya Anangu Lands Partnership-angku palyantja tjuta. Panya kuula tiinpa ngaranyi partnership nyangangka: Kuula panya aitpa ngaranyi APY Land-ta, kuula kutju Maralinga Tjarutjala, munu kutju Yalatala ngaranyi. Anangu munu Piranpa educator tjutaya tjungu waakaripai kuulangka munu putingka kulu-kulu.

Exhibition nyangangka (ini panya Walytja munu Ngura), art munu film kuulangka palyantja tjutala nintini, panya yiya kutjupa, yiya kutjupa nganana palyantja tjuta nintilpai Fregon Arts Festival-ta. Ka waaka nyanganpa student, walytjapiti, munu kiminiti tjutangku visiting artist tjutangka tjungungku palyantja tjuta ngaranyi ka tjukurpa kutjupa tjuta video-ngka ngaranyi. Ka video tjutangka tjukurpa wiru tjuta ngaranyi palyanku nyinanytjatjara munu kiminitingka wirura nyinanytjatjara. Wangka kutjarangkaya video-ngka tjukurpa wangkapai; Pitjantjatjara munu English.

There are 10 Anangu schools in remote South Australia: 8 are located on the red dirt of the APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands, with Oak Valley located on the red dirt of the Maralinga Tjarutja Lands, and Yalata on the coastal sands of the far west where Anangu Educators work shoulder to shoulder with non-Anangu educators in classrooms and learning on Country.

Walytja munu Ngura (Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara for Family and Place) is an exhibition of art and films from the schools of the Anangu Lands which are presented annually at the Fregon Arts Festival. The works are created by students, family, and community, in collaboration with visiting artists, and include videos of stories that explore concepts of wellbeing and citizenship, narrated in Pitjantjatjara and English.

ozasia residency, public program

OzAsia Festival Residency: Sulochana Dissanayake, Free-doom Down Under

chloe metcalfe ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

Showing and Q&A

When: Thursday, October 23, 5pm and Friday, October 24, 4pm and 6pm

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

Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)

Note: Please arrive 15 minutes early to grab a drink. This event will be 1 hour (including a Q&A).

  • This showing and Q&A will be held in The Breakout. Please come to The Mill at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.

    Please arrive 15 minutes early to get a drink.

    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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

Bold and thought-provoking, Free-doom Down Under takes a cheeky look at the experience of skilled migrants who come to Australia in search of a better life.

Blending theatre, photography, multimedia and interactive installations, artists Sulochana Dissanyake and Dinuka Liyanawatte explore identity, culture, and the struggle of integration.

This work-in-progress showing is a first glimpse of a personal perspective on what it takes to fit-in.

About the artist:

  • Sulochana Dissanayake, founder and artistic director of Power of Play (PVT) LTD, is dedicated to creating works that reflect identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion while advocating for social change.

    With a cum laude degree in Economics and Theater from Bates College (2009), she combines her expertise in theater, directing, puppetry and writing to craft experiences that engage and challenge audiences on critical societal issues.

    Dissanayake’s experience with leading theatres in the U.S. (Guthrie Theater and Williamstown Theater Festival) has shaped her approach to performance as a powerful tool for social advocacy. She uses creative and interactive methods to spark conversations around cultural and social divides. A Watson Fellowship recipient (2009/10), she traveled to South Africa and Indonesia to explore how performance can foster community engagement and cross-cultural understanding. Her work in Sri Lanka focuses on empowering marginalized voices and promoting social justice through the arts.

    In 2024, Dissanayake migrated to Adelaide with the hope of expanding Power of Play to Australia for intercontinental collaborations. Dissanayake remains active in both countries & capitalises her experience in USA, Europe, Africa and Asia to customise unique communication solutions for communities of South Australia & Sri Lanka. For more information visit www.linkedin.com/in/sulochana-d

Photographer: Bri Hammond

This showing has support from

 
 

masterclass series, public program

Workshops: Screen Printing with Bob Window

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: courtesy of the artist

Workshops

Workshop 1: Friday, June 20, 1-4pm 

Workshop 2: Friday, July 4, 1-4pm 

Where: The Mill, 154 Angas Street, Kaurna Yarta, Adelaide

Cost per workshop: $190 (+ 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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

Join artist Bob Window for a screen printing workshop where you’ll learn to print on fabric!

This beginner-level workshop will explore Bob’s signature styles with shapes, layers and stunning colours.

What to expect:

In this 3-hour session you will learn the basics of screen printing and learn two different techniques for creating amazing prints! Master screen printer Bob Window will share his expertise and guide participants through the process of printing using pre-exposed screens, followed by printing with blank screens and butchers paper.

Bob will provide participants with 1m of fabric, but you are welcome to bring along additional fabric, t-shirts or totes - natural fibres only.

This can be a messy process, so please wear covered shoes and studio clothes or an apron.

At the end of the day, you will get to take home your amazing screen-printed artworks!

  • 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/

virtual gallery, oriana julie

Virtual Gallery: Oriana Julie, Head in the Clouds

Adele Sliuzas ·

For our first exhibition of 2025 we presented Head in the Clouds, a new exhibition by Oriana Julie developed through our Visual Arts Studio Residency presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin.

This Virtual Gallery includes exhibition photography and social photography from the opening night and the live stream of Oriana’s artist talk.

Photo: Daniel Marks

Informed by my childhood experience of always "having my head in the clouds" and being "off with the fairies," this body of work seeks to reframe this personal narrative into a space of sublime escape through spontaneous method-making, depicting a personal mythos. These moments of sublime escape explore the function of fantasy as an intrinsic tool for imagination, deeply connected to embodied feelings. In this realm of sublime escapism, I grant myself permission to delve into the depths of my being and emotions. The works can be viewed as an internal dialogue, manifesting in tactile forms.

The exhibition unfolds as an internal conversation, guided by personal mythos and translated into the tactile and material expression of embodied sensation. The sensory processes of the body are integrated into the art-making, forming an intrinsically connected environment through various mediums. In this space, distinctions between worlds and categories dissolve. Soft hues articulate a union between the characters and the spaces they inhabit. During these moments of sublime escape, the characters find solace in transcending societal constraints, becoming unapologetically empowered.

Photo: Daniel Marks

Social photos: Daniel Marks

This exhibition has support from

 
 
 

The Visual Arts Residency is presented with support from donors Geoff Martin and Sorayya Mahmood Martin

 

First Nations Workshop: Performing Business

Adele Sliuzas ·

Photo: Bri Hammond

First Nations Workshop: Performing Business

Day 1: Tuesday, July 1, 9:30am - 4:30pm

Day 2: Tuesday, July 22, 9:30am - 4:30pm

Where: Gallery 1 at The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

First Nations Performing artists only

  • Getting to the 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.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

    If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com

We invite First Nations performing artists and dancers to join us for a two day Business workshop, strengthening entrepreneurship and self-management skills. Facilitated by The Mill’s Program Coordinator, Caleena Sansbury, and supported by our team of experienced arts managers, the workshops will build confidence in the business side of creative practice.

What to expect:

Day 1: Quoting for your Practice & Services: Learn about how to price, speak and set the industry standard of you as a business. Learn to think of your creative practice in a business sense

Self Producing & Project Management: Learn how to do the really fun stuff, writing budgets, timelines and where and how to quote yourselves using industry standard websites.

Day 2: Grant Writing Skills: In this workshop you will learn what grants are accessible, getting started and how to talk about your art practice.

Marketing: Learn how to promote yourself as a business, understand the timing of promoting and using the best photos that capture what you do

About the Facilitator:

  • Caleena Sansbury is a prominent First Nations artist whose diverse background and extensive experience have established her as a leading figure in the arts. Her heritage, encompassing Ngarrindjeri, Narungga, and Kaurna cultures, deeply influences her work and perspective.

    A graduate of NAISDA Dance College, Caleena’s career spans various disciplines including performance, choreography, and program coordination. She has showcased her talents on both national and international stages, working with respected artists and companies.

    Her notable collaborations include:

    • Vicki Van Hout on productions like Long Grass and Les Festivities Lubrufier.

    • Thomas E. S. Kelly on the performance work [MIS]CONCEIVE.

    • Karul Projects on the piece SSHIFT.

    Caleena’s experience extends to children's theatre, where she has performed in shows produced by InSite Arts such as Saltbush and Our Corka Bubs, and with Polyglot Theatre in Tangled. Her work demonstrates a deep understanding of both dance and theatre, particularly in contexts involving young audiences.

    In addition to her performance career, she has contributed to theatre as an actor in Legs On the Wall’s The Man With The Iron Neck and has showcased her organizational skills as a producer for the Melbourne Fringe in 2018. She has also toured South Australia with Taree Sansbury’s Mi:wi 2019, and performed in Jacob Boheme’s dance work Gurranda in 2024. Caleena continues to perform and practice dance in and throughout South Australia. 

    Currently, Caleena is a Program Coordinator at The Mill, an award-winning multi-disciplinary arts organisation. Her role at The Mill continues to reflect her commitment to fostering a vibrant and dynamic First Nations arts community.

This project has support from

 
 

public program, galleries

Exhibition: Lucky Smith, Under 30's Eat Free

Adele Sliuzas ·

Lucky Smith, I stood 10 Feet from accountability inside Purgatory, detail, 2025, oil & Acrylic on Canvas,

April 11- June 20, 2025

Opening: Friday, April 11, 5:30-7:30pm

Finissage: Friday, June 20, 4:30-6:30pm

Gallery I, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find Under 30’s Eat Free in The Mill’s Gallery I, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Gallery I is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We are excited to present Under 30’s Eat Free, a new solo exhibition by studio artist Lucky Smith.

Combining pop-art flatness with anthropomorphic characters, Lucky explores contemporary anxieties in a way that is both jovial and deadly serious. Bold and bright, and slightly disconcerting, we see his subjects navigating everyday scenarios in unusual ways - a day at the beach turns into a most strange place to adopt a kitten, while a Rapa Nui (Easter Island) moai statue spills the tea on a date at a Parisienne bistro. Lucky has also begun exploring the addition of textured oil paint within his otherwise modernly flat scenes, bringing a new quality within the paintings.

The body of works are uncanny and relatable, shedding light on the ‘coming of age’ we experience as we enter our 30s.

  • The impending turn of thirty is an age of paralytic decision-making, the frazzled and hurried pursuit of escaping dreams, and an overwhelming sensation one is not where they need to be as they are compared to their contemporaries and generations before them.

    Under 30s Eat Free is a visual representation of my comparative and anxious feelings towards turning 30 in the present day.

    This introspection began through reading about Peter Freuchen, an early twentieth century Danish explorer who before thirty had raised a family of three in the midst of mapping the borders and climate of the arctic circle, and literally fought off wolves that encroached on his weather recording outpost - a three day sled from the expeditions’ operations command centre.

    He spent five years in the arctic. Upon returning home to Denmark Frechuen journaled, “I felt like a stranger when I encountered my old friends. I was proud of my strength and ability to live for long periods without food, but these things meant nothing to them.”

    As the biological urge to start a family and forego the insecurity of contract work weighs, I began a transition from the fast paced and tortuous nature of the film industry to the seemingly more sensible corporate 9 to 5. I feel the aforementioned quote summarises my experience in making this transition quite well.

    My most recent experience in the film industry consisted of 14 hour days, six day weeks, an eight week stretch without a lunch break, six weeks of social isolation, Non Disclosure Agreements loaded with very real threat of legal action, and crippling heat all done for the largest serial commissioned in Australia, by the biggest streaming platform of our age. However, within short succession I was informed by BUPA I have the option to stay on my parents’ private health insurance until the age of 32, and I was told by my new workplace if I wish to come in early to get work done I first need to earn the company’s trust via a year long probation before being granted access to the security alarm code.

    In this exhibition nine images in oil and acrylic on canvas, empathetically visualise many contemporary lifestyle and workplace problems shared by Generation Z and their fringes. Such concerns include whether to choose a career of passion or financial comfort, the requirements to enter a job with a wealth of knowledge beyond one’s years, whether to choose a soul mate or children, and the confiscation of autonomy, which all seemingly prolong childhood into one’s late-thirties.

    This series of works is my life and career retrospective built on strong fluctuating binary feelings of guilt, shame, regret, anger, and self-loathing which necessitates expressive colour, scale, and visuals that demands the viewer’s attention, like a pub banner announcing free meals for us kids. The imagery is confusing and abrasive, uncanny, dreamlike, familiar and yet… off, perpetuated by a fluctuating use of palette knives and brushes, and the contrast of thickly layered oils on an acrylic background.

    The creation of these artworks journal my epiphany into what I believe adulthood is; that old adage, if you want to be treated like an adult you have to behave like an adult.

  • Lucky Smith is a passionate expressionist painter from rural South Australia, now living and working in Adelaide. Lucky specialises in large scale portraiture of pop culture personalities and surrealist scenes using oil & acrylics. An avid painter from the age of six, his organically developed style has blossomed into grand and colourful artworks that fill a wall, brighten a room, and invite a crowd into vibrant conversation.

    Lucky is an imaginative storyteller, learning foundations from John Collee’s AFTRS Screenwriting seminar, and travelling to New York in 2022 to study story structure under screen and writing lecturer Robert McKee. Lucky uses these storytelling principles to construct scenes in his artwork which empathetically explore complex interpersonal exchanges and idiosyncratic social situations, with recurring motifs such as anthropomorphised animals and retro pop culture.

    Lucky has worked in graphic design and the film industry for over a decade, working on such

    significant projects as The Tourist (2020, STAN), La Brea (2020, NBC), & Territory (2024, NETFLIX).

    Lucky’s artwork is displayed in numerous public and private collections domestically and internationally. His solo exhibition ‘Your Spectrum is Showing’ was held at Linhay Gallery in Auburn SA in 2022. Lucky has a studio at The Mill - Adelaide, and will be exhibiting as part of The Mill’s Visual Art program in 2025.

This exhibition has support from

 
 

public program, galleries

Exhibition: Meg Mader, Patterned Disproportion

Adele Sliuzas ·

Meg Mader, You’re Cactus!, 2024, gouache on wooden Panel, 407mm x 508mm, courtesy of the artist

April 11- June 20, 2025

Opening: Friday, April 11, 5:30-7:30pm

Finissage: Friday, June 20, 4:30-6:30pm

Gallery II, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Free entry, all welcome

  • You can find Patterned Disproportion in The Mill’s Gallery II, located at 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide).

    Gallery II is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm.

    Accessibility

    The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.

    Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.

    The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.

    Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.

We are excited to present Patterned Disproportion, a new solo exhibition by Clare Valley based artist Meg Mader.

In this exhibition Meg uses her signature vibrant painting style, taking viewers on an imaginative journey through playful, disproportionate and extraordinary scenes. Checkerboard floors and ornate wallpaper come together to give a glimpse into the lives of music-playing ornaments, mischievous gnomes and a most sophisticated doll house. We’re invited to fill in the narrative, whose beautiful house is this? Is this maggie performing a Billie Holiday tribute? Indeed, could the ornaments and pets in our own homes also have such glamorous secret lives?

In bringing to life the ordinary and everyday, Meg also imbues her characters with agency, a portrait of a dog is playfully titled ‘Fetch me Equality’, mirroring the sentiment of her portrait titled ‘Determination Inspiration Imagination’. The work is equally entertaining and playful as it is personal and political.

  • As an illustrative artist, I’m captivated by the vibrancy of acrylic ink and gouache, using them to bring life and colour to objects, animals, and scenes. Recently, my work has delved into the role of patterns, which evoke a sense of time and place within each composition. For this exhibition, I have created a series of paintings using objects, patterns and colour to capture an imagined moment in time. Alongside these are still-life scenes drawn from a mix of found, gifted, and personal objects—each carrying its own story—arranged in settings with playful, disproportionate scales.

    The altered scales introduce a sense of surrealism, inviting viewers to see everyday objects in new and unexpected ways. Patterns within each disproportionate room add depth and rhythm, framing each scene within a distinct narrative context.

    The exhibition is an entertaining, immersive journey inviting viewers to experience a new life for ordinary objects, reimagined in a timeless, dynamic space. This exhibition encourages a closer look at the ordinary, a rethinking of scale, and an interactive encounter with past and present woven together.

  • Meg Mader works predominantly with acrylic inks, gouache, and pen to create vibrant illustrations of animals, still life, and pop culture mash-ups. She has participated in many group exhibitions. Noteworthy are her duo exhibitions with collaborator Stu Nankivell, where she ventures into augmented reality, adding another layer to her works. In her solo exhibitions, Meg explores themes and narratives of her choice including literary mashups and still life, allowing for unrestrained expression.


    Her artistic style has earned her a Highly Commended and the Incentive Award at the Clare Valley Portrait Prize along with winning the Balco Art Prize's Best Work on Paper. A pivotal moment arrived when Meg was chosen for the Nebula Program by Country Arts SA, offering her the chance to deepen her practice and build connections with fellow regional artists. Meg's art often takes the form of commissioned pieces, frequently commemorating beloved pets and cherished memories.


    Since 2017, Meg has expanded her artistic practice by organising art events and workshops across South Australia and a series of large events at Puddleduck Vineyard in Tasmania. Her involvement in a local arts committee and establishment of a weekly art group are other ways to enjoy arts within the community.

This exhibition has support from