public program, gallery I

Exhibition: Adrianne Semmens & Jennifer Eadie, Unravel

Photo: Supplied by the artists.

February 15 - April 14, 2022

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

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

Cost: Free

Livestream Performance

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

Cost: Free, bookings essential

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


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

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

    it/ without causing a fracture?

    There is vulnerability when we

    say: I too am part of that place/

    too many colours/ it is not

    something that can be held/ always unravelling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo: Daniel Marks.

 

Unravel is supported by City of Adelaide

 

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