When: Monday, February 20, 2023, 10:30am-12:30pm (arrive at 10:15am)
Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (enter via the Exhibition Space)
Cost: $30 (+ booking fees)
About the masterclass:
Will Tredinnick is a self-proclaimed ‘Professional Idiot’. This workshop is for anyone interested in pursuing anything professionally, be that dance, theatre, comedy, music, masonry, small business, or baking!
This masterclass will focus on developing skills in devising for performance and will start with some light physical activity to get the blood pumping around our performance vessel: the body. From there we will discover how to play, explore some tools to help us make something out of nothing, learn some simple storytelling tricks and then bring it on home with a short display of our new mastery of devising.
The workshop will be physical (but not too physical) so wear something comfortable (there will be a prize for the most comfortable outfit).
Experience level:
Suitable for individuals, duos, trios and larger ensembles - all experience levels are welcome!
Age recommended 15+
Will is a diverse and passionate theatre-maker from Western Sydney. With a Bachelor of Communication (Theatre/Media), Will developed his physical theatre, learning skills in circus, dance, and acrobatics. He’s performed at multiple Australian festivals, and led venue teams at international Fringes.
In 2018, Will developed his first solo work Table for Two? The show has since won awards and performed to sell-out audiences at Bondi Feast, Sydney and Adelaide Fringe. Since then, he's created his second touring piece, Pickled Sink, receiving multiple 4 and 5 star reviews.
When not touring, Will performs as a ‘Captain’ for the Starlight Children's Foundation, Front of House Manager at multiple large venues, and teaches, performs, and leads festivals in remote communities across NSW and WA.
Where: The Exhibition Space, The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: $25 (+ booking fee), all materials included
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join Ugandan artist Charlene Komuntale for a workshop exploring her portraiture practice. Charlene Komuntale is a digital artist and illustrator based in Kampala, Uganda. She is the current LKArtist in Residence, she will be spending 6 weeks living in Adelaide and working from a studio at The Mill supported by Sanaa. Charlene uses digital mediums to create stunning portraits of Black African women that centre empowerment, liberation and confidence.
What to expect:
Participants will hear from Charlene about her digital and conceptual process, and how she creates her work. The group will then work with her to develop their own symbolic self-portrait in Charlene's style. Portraits will be created using paper, collage, texta and acrylic paint and can be taken home on the day.
Charlene Komuntale is a digital artist and illustrator based in Kampala, Uganda. She holds a BA in Animation from Limkokwing University, Malaysia. In her recent series “Not Fragile”, Komuntale portrays women - mostly black African women.
The subject matter is personal yet presented in a relatable way as inspiration is drawn from her own experiences but also informed by the experiences of other women around her.
The heads of the women she portrays are covered by different elements, which create poetic yet striking narratives around a broadly relatable figure. At first sight, the works evoke a dreamy, peaceful, and quiet atmosphere, whereas at a closer look powerful, empowering and unapologetic messages come to the fore. Dominant, male-centered perspectives on women’s roles and supposedly nature-given capabilities and constraints attached to female bodies are being evaluated and re-examined. The juxtaposition of different elements creates an interesting asymmetry between awareness of self and the (male-centered) gaze of others. Intimacy, tenderness, vulnerability, and female beauty do not suggest fragility. Instead, it is related to strength and unapologetic confidence. Komuntale’s digital paintings deconstruct patriarchal narratives as shaped by culture, religion, and politics and provide a ground for inquiry and interrogation, and for visions of different futures.
Her compositional choices create a space at the edges of reality – moments frozen in time and filled with surreal elements and metaphorical and symbolical references.
When: Friday, March 3, 2023, 10:30am-12:30pm (arrive at 10:15am to sign in)
Where: The Mill Breakout, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (enter via the Exhibition Space)
Cost: $30 (+ booking fees)
This masterclass is about getting to the heart of what you want to say and nailing the craft behind storytelling.
Stories are an incredible source of material and connective juice between a performer and their audience. This masterclass will help you find the heart, hone in on the point, and tune the delivery, so your story can do what it needs to do - express, connect and delight.
This could be a story that is used as a part of or as the whole basis for a show, told as between set 'banter' or even used to 'pitch' a work. You can take stories from your life, the lives of others or even a story you have heard or read about - all of them can be crafted into telling power.
After a couple of quick palate-cleansing games to get your minds ready to access, this masterclass will go full steam into your story crafting, from story - selection through to story delivery. Emma writes by improvised speaking, so she will also share her 'dot-point' writing style.
Get ready to work, talk and listen.
Bring a note-book, a bottle of water and a story.
Experience level:
This masterclass is open to people who practice performance of any kind, who either want to build on a story-telling practice, or incorporate it into their own genre of practice. General public are welcome to attend yet will need to be ready for working within a theatrical environment with performing artists who are familiar with improvisation and responding to unknown creative tasks ie: written, verbal and physical.
I started making shows for my mum in her bedroom when I was six. Since then, I graduated from Flinders Drama Centre, worked in theatre and screen as well as developing an arts practice of making theatre shows from intimate conversations with other humans, from strangers to my dad, drawing from documentary to create my own docu-theatre style. The best moments of these conversations I collect together to make shows, which exalt the un-exalted in our daily lives, and hone in on our life-changing stories. My work is often direct address, and montages monologue storytelling, gestures and physical narratives that are collected from interviews, conversations, confessions and observations.
I work with collaborators that include installation-theatre companies in Demark and Singapore, and various companies / festivals locally including The Rabble, Arts House, DreamBIG festival, Aphids, OSCA, No Strings Attached, STC SA, Brink Productions and Vitalstatistix. Emma has just finished her one-woman show commissioned for the Adelaide Festival, The Photo Box.
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: Free
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join artist Tikari Rigney and members of the Solidarity Collective for an informal artist talk, chatting about themes in their collaborative work as part of Tikari’s exhibition Snug Diaries. The collective have contributed an installation of objects, performance and poetry. The emphasis on peer learning and multidisciplinary collaboration within this project create a profound sense of community and care.
The Mill’s Solidarity Collective (working title) is a new project initiated and facilitated by Kaurna, Narrungga and Ngarrindjeri artist, and 2022 Sponsored Studio recipient Tikari Rigney. The Solidarity Collective is made up of South Australian based artists who identify as First Nations, and/or People of Colour. The collective has held regular meetings in late 2022, creating a community of multi-disciplinary artists who share, create and work collaboratively. Ultimately providing a platform for artists to express themselves and share stories within a safe space, while also making friends and sharing.
Tikari Rigney is a non-binary (they/them) Kaurna, Narrungga and Ngarrindjeri visual artist and poet living and working on Kaurna land. Their process is centred around their language, identity specifically their family’s First Nations history and informed by personal challenges and experiences. Their interests are in community connection, solidarity and learning. These are explored through a range of mediums however, their practice currently is focused on textiles and fleshy anthropomorphic sculptures.
Tikari has been involved with several group shows and will be exhibiting their first solo exhibition at the completion of their residency at The Mill in February 2023. Their next residency is at Nexus towards the end of 2023.
This project has support from
The Mill’s Sponsored Studio program is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
Where: The Mill’s Sponsored Studio,154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: Free
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Join Ugandan artist Charlene Komuntale for a chat in her studio about work she is developing for the Sanaa exhibition at Kerry Packer Civic Gallery this February. Charlene is the current LK Artist in Residence, she will be spending 6 weeks living in Adelaide and working from a studio at The Mill supported by Sanaa. Charlene uses digital mediums to create stunning portraits of Black African women that centre empowerment, liberation and confidence. During the talk Charlene will chat about her practice, her subjects and use of symbolism in her portraiture.
Charlene Komuntale is a digital artist and illustrator based in Kampala, Uganda. She holds a BA in Animation from Limkokwing University, Malaysia. In her recent series “Not Fragile”, Komuntale portrays women - mostly black African women.
The subject matter is personal yet presented in a relatable way as inspiration is drawn from her own experiences but also informed by the experiences of other women around her.
The heads of the women she portrays are covered by different elements, which create poetic yet striking narratives around a broadly relatable figure. At first sight, the works evoke a dreamy, peaceful, and quiet atmosphere, whereas at a closer look powerful, empowering and unapologetic messages come to the fore. Dominant, male-centered perspectives on women’s roles and supposedly nature-given capabilities and constraints attached to female bodies are being evaluated and re-examined. The juxtaposition of different elements creates an interesting asymmetry between awareness of self and the (male-centered) gaze of others. Intimacy, tenderness, vulnerability, and female beauty do not suggest fragility. Instead, it is related to strength and unapologetic confidence. Komuntale’s digital paintings deconstruct patriarchal narratives as shaped by culture, religion, and politics and provide a ground for inquiry and interrogation, and for visions of different futures.
Her compositional choices create a space at the edges of reality – moments frozen in time and filled with surreal elements and metaphorical and symbolical references.
The LK Artist in Residence Sponsored Studio is presented in partnership with Sanaa.
Sanaa aims to facilitate intercultural understanding by providing a platform to artists from culturally diverse backgrounds, with past exhibitions featuring international artists from many other cultures around the world, alongside Australian-based artists from Aboriginal, African, Middle Eastern and South American backgrounds.
The LK Artist in Residence is supported by Principal Partner LK Law.
The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
You can find Snug Diaries 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.
The Mill is thrilled to present a new solo exhibition titled ‘Snug Diaries’ by Tikari Rigney. Kaurna, Narrungga and Ngarrindjeri visual artist and poet Tikari has developed this body of work during their 6-month Sponsored Studio Residency at The Mill in 2022, a new initiative supported by the Mahmood Martin Foundation. Snug Diaries is a sensory and tactile environment that encourages audiences to ponder the complexities of human experience. The exhibition includes soft ‘bodies’, made from textile scraps that have been machine and hand embroidered with Tikari’s poetry. The undulating forms are friendly and inviting to touch, providing a unique sensory experience for audiences. Yet, the words in both English and First Nations languages (Kaurna, Narrungga and Ngarrindjeri) explore Tikari’s experiences and challenges navigating queer, Aboriginal, non-binary identities.
The recently formed Solidarity Collective, facilitated by Tikari, have also contributed to the exhibition, with an installation of objects, performance and poetry. The emphasis on peer learning and multidisciplinary collaboration within this project create a profound sense of community and care.
I would like to acknowledge Snug Diaries at The Mill is on Kaurna land, my grandmother’s land. I feel grateful to the Kaurna community for looking after Country, this land for thousands of years and proud that I am part of the oldest living culture in the world. Sovereignty was never ceded, always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Snug Diaries is a culmination of works that highlight anti-monolith identities and explores the consistent changing and emotions of navigating identity.
I have to acknowledge and thank members of the Solidarity Collective as their sharing helped shape this exhibition and my practice as a whole.
These poems are like diary entries, thoughts, emotions, bodily challenges documented and try to understand myself. Difficult, sometimes painfully honest insights into my identity yet comforted by the textures of flowing fabric and the hug of soft forms. I encourage you to touch, cuddle with the works, feel solace and familiarity in their fleshy humanoid forms. I hope my writing exploring my daily challenges with my mental health, First Nations culture, queerness and non-binary identity brings solidarity to folks in these communities and learning and empathy to allies.
Ngathu tampinthi ngaityu nakunakupinya ‘Marti Tirntu-irntu Piiparna’ Tawiwardlingka Kaurna yartangka, ngaityu ngapapiku yartangka. I acknowledge (that) my exhibition Snug Diaries at The Mill is on Kaurna land, the land of my grandmother (father’s mother)
Yaintya yarta irdinti yarta, pukipukinangku. Yaintya yarta irdinti yarta muinmurningutha tarrkarri-arra. This land is sovereign land, from long ago. This land will continue to be sovereign land into the future.
Marti Tirntu-irntu Piiparnapira About the Snug Diaries
Yaintya tunki ngaityu piipa. This cloth is my book.
Ngaityu pintyapintyanya ngatparnarli tirntu-irntu piipangka. My writings are like entries in a diary.
Ngathu ngaityu yailtya, ngaityu muiyu, ngaityu nunupira pintyanthi ngaintipira tirkatitya. I am writing my thoughts/beliefs, my emotions (and) about my body in order to understand/learn about myself.
Ngai muiyu, ngai yitpi, ngai tuwila, ngaityu ngutu, ngaityu mukapa, ngaityu yailtya yaintya tunkingka. My emotions, my soul, my spirit, my knowledge, my memory, my thought is in this cloth. Kurdantu, manmantu, martintu yaintya tunki. Touch, grab, embrace this fabric! Ngaityu pintyapintyanya nintaitya wangkaingku! Let my writings speak to you!
Yaintya ngaityu tiyati warra. This is my truth.
Tikari Rigney is a non-binary (they/them) Kaurna, Narrunga and Ngarrindjeri visual artist and poet living and working on Kaurna land. Their process is centred around their language, identity specifically their family’s First Nations history and informed by personal challenges and experiences. Their interests are in community connection, solidarity and learning. These are explored through a range of mediums however, their practice currently is focused on textiles and fleshy anthropomorphic sculptures.
Tikari has been involved with several group shows and will be exhibiting their first solo exhibition at the completion of their residency at The Mill in February 2023. Their next residency is at Nexus towards the end of 2023.
This exhibition has support from
The Mill’s Sponsored Studio program is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm, and extended hours during The Mill’s Adelaide Fringe season
The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill is excited to present a new exhibition ‘Museum of Old Money’ by THE GOOD NEW$ BANK curated by Steph Cibich. THE GOOD NEW$ BANK is the collaborative moniker for artist duo Nicholas Hanisch and Cassie Thring, who have been working closely with Cibich to develop a body of work that playfully comments on the ideas surrounding ‘currency’, ‘value’ and ‘worth’ under consumer-capitalism. What is art worth? What value does the artist play within our society? How do we understand the exchange value of creative work? How do you put a price on the way that works of art make us feel?
With the current ‘cozzie livs’ (cost of living crisis), we are all making daily choices to determine how we can make our money stretch. Art can be seen as a luxury item, but at what cost? We know from our times in pandemic lockdown that art and creativity are central to our sense of self, and sense of community. Featuring Art Vending Machine Australia’s (AVMA) ‘Adelaide Art Vending Machine’, in which Curator Steph Cibich seeks to democratise the process of buying artwork, without undermining the work of the artist.
The vending machine will sit alongside other works, developed through a collaborative relationship between curator and artists, offering unique moments for audience participation. Artworks will be available for purchase giving audiences an accessible option for becoming collectors of contemporary art.
‘I’m not in it for the money – just the stuff it buys’ – Unknown.
Our values change as our world evolves. In 2023, our consumer-driven culture determines what is ‘valuable’ based on how much something is ‘worth’. In other words, how much something costs or can be exchanged for something that is...well...better.
Due to our contemporary relationship with commercialism, words like ‘value’ and ‘worth’ have lost their meaning. How we associate with people, relationships, places, objects, and experiences is commodified to reflect our globalised existence. In this environment, even trust is overthrown for economic opportunity. We find ourselves competing and comparing through any means necessary; on social media, in business, through our disposable possessions, even with new systems of currency. Yet, as people, we are often pressured by conflicting ‘values’ and seek to identify what (or who) is ‘worthy’, or ‘worthless’. We want to belong, to have someone reaffirm our ‘self-worth’ and to help our loved ones feel ‘valued’. Instead, we feel confused, disconnected, and lost. We’ve come to know the cost of everything but the ‘value’ of nothing.
Cast against a backdrop of inflation, rising interest rates, a pandemic, the climate crisis, and escalating tensions overseas, The Museum of Old Money explores our evolving relationship with notions of ‘currency’, ‘value’ and ‘worth’. Curated by Steph Cibich and featuring new work by collaborative duo, THE GOOD NEW$ BANK (Cassie Thring and Nick Hanisch) including a unique takeover of Art Vending Machine Australia’s ‘Adelaide Art Vending Machine’, this exhibition offers a timely reminder of the things that really matter and how easy it is to get lost along the way.
Steph Cibich is a Kaurna Country (Adelaide) based curator and arts writer. Since 2019, she has worked as the Assistant Curator/Program Officer at the Centre for Creative Health and has built a strong independent curatorial practice. She is the founding force behind Art Vending Machines Australia (AVMA) and received the inaugural City of Onkaparinga Contemporary Curator Award (SALA 2019). In 2020, Steph was simultaneously appointed FELTspace Emerging Curator and the inaugural ART WORKS Emerging Curator, presented by Guildhouse and the City of Adelaide. Recently, Steph was appointed Co-chair of the Art History & Curatorship Alumni Network (AHCAN) and was a writer for ‘Neoteric’, an exhibition presented as part of the Adelaide Festival (2022). Steph’s curatorial approach centres on collaborating with and championing the work of contemporary artists. Through democratic and meaningful art projects, Steph seeks to bring people and ideas together by fostering connections between artists, art and audiences.
Nicholas Hanisch is a sculptural installation artist graduating as a scholarship recipient at Adelaide Central School of Art. Hanisch’s ongoing practice has involved a diverse and continual exploration of mediums, conceptual themes, and collaborations. His recent body of work investigates creation narratives within the field of figurative sculpture. Hanisch’s sculptural forms are informed by the history of figurative sculpture, whilst celebrating the humour, the horror, the happenstance, and the sheer endeavour of creation. Previously Hanisch has attended the New York Studio School, practiced, and exhibited in Berlin, participated in residencies across India, and exhibited as part of The Art Gallery of South Australia collection.
Cassie Thring is a multidisciplinary artist working from Floating Goose Studios on Kaurna land, Adelaide, SA. A passionate advocate for accessible community art programs, her work reflects an interest in the riches and sorrows of life, often through an apparently humorous lens. A graduate of Adelaide Central School of Art, Thring has participated in local and international residencies. Her work A Gazillion was exhibited as part of The Art Gallery of South Australia and is now in their permanent collection. Thring’s work is also held in the National Museum of Canberra and private collections, both in Australia and internationally.
When: Friday, December 16, 6-7pm (5:45pm arrival for 6pm sharp start)
Where: The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (enter via The Exhibition Space)
Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)
Duration: 45 minutes (including casual Q&A)
This showing will be held in The Breakout at The Mill. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Accessibility
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com
The Mill presents the final showing of our 2022 Breakout Residency Program.
We welcome you to view a showing of new solo dance work in development by renowned Adelaide independent dancer and choreographer Daniel Jaber, as part of his Free-range Residency. The showing will reveal the content being explored and a Q&A following the showing will take you inside the creation process of his newest work.
Daniel Jaber was born in Nairne, in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. He is of Lebanese and Maori cultural heritage.
Jaber has created work for Australian Dance Theatre, Expressions Dance Company (now Australasian Dance Collective), Houston Ballet 2, Qantas Australian Tourism Awards, Dance Moms, Dubai Festival, Architanz Tokyo and was the Creative Director of LW Dance Hub (now Dance Hub SA) in 2015. He has choreographed new works on many tertiary institutions, universities and colleges throughout Australasia and the US, including QUT, Adelaide College of the Arts, California State University (LA & Fullerton), Transit Dance and the New Zealand School of Dance.
Daniel’s dance training began in Adelaide with Christine Underdown (Dancecraft Studios) and Barbara Komazec (Barbie Jayne Dance Centre). He further pursued his training through the Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Ballet Company Professional Year and the Adelaide College of the Arts before joining Australian Dance Theatre as a trainee dancer, under the direction of Garry Stewart, at the age of 17.
As a company member of Australian Dance Theatre (2004-2021), Jaber has toured the world extensively and participated in the creation of new works as well as touring repertoire.
When: Friday, December 2, 5-6pm (4:45pm arrival for 5pm sharp start)
Where: The Mill, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta (enter via The Exhibition Space)
Cost: $10 (+ booking fee)
Duration: 1 hour (including casual Q&A)
Grim Grinning Ghosts will be held in The Breakout at The Mill. Please come to the Exhibition Space at 154 Angas Street, the bar will be open to grab a drink before we take you through to The Breakout.
Accessibility
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St to get to our front door, which will be open.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
If you have questions or would like to talk to one of The Mill team contact info@themilladelaide.com
The Mill’s Centre Stage Residency will progress a new work presented by Emma Beech to its next stage of development, including a work-in-progress public showing and culminating in a season at The Mill as part of Adelaide Fringe 2023.
Here We Are crosses forms between stand-up comedy, improvisational theatre, performance lecture and traditional theatre. Embracing simplicity in form, a low carbon footprint in all areas of design, as well as a focus on the here and now, by creating improvised story performances.
“No rehearsals, no story set list, no set design, just me, the craft I have so finely tuned, my stories from the wonderful story life I have lived and sought out, and the relationship I build with the audience over the course of a show.”
About the artist:
Emma Beech graduated from Flinders Drama Centre 2002, has worked in theatre and screen plus developed a practice making theatre shows from intimate conversations with strangers. Emma has made theatre across a broad range of genres with rigorous makers from Adelaide, to Melbourne, to Spain to Denmark, for over 15 years and has been commissioned by Carte Blanche, Vitalstatistix, Country Arts SA, Arts House, DreamBIG and recently the Adelaide Festival.
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Accessibility: Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibilitypage.
You can find Riot on an Empty Street 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.
For our final exhibition of the 2022, The Mill presents Deep Listening by artist Sonya Mellor. Through sculpture, installation, movement, sound and performance art, Sonya Mellor will be activating The Mill’s Exhibition Space, inviting audiences to experience a vibrant, dynamic, living exhibition. Sonya builds on concepts that she explored while participating in The Mill’s City Mobilities Public Art Masterclasses in 2020 and 2021, bringing ideas of public space into the gallery space.
The exhibition’s title makes reference to writing by Quanamooka artist Megan Cope, who encourages the viewer to consider the relationship between sound, vibrations, our bodies and the land, inviting “...’deep listening’, in order to align mind and body with the earth”. Sonya’s approach to the act of deep listening is concerned with attention and respect, acknowledging her role as a non-Indigenous person on stolen land. ‘Through my passions of nature and community, I would like to engage the community/public, through arts activation, into deep listening’ she states. The works are created using a diverse range of materials, and artistic practices; Using reclaimed, repurposed, discarded and found on the ground objects, the discarded parts of natural objects, poetry, sound and movement. The exhibition will also include an ephemeral floor installation consisting of natural objects found on daily walks explorations during the exhibition time, an acknowledgement of ‘deep listening’ to the land where we live, work and play.
My practice is about finding a unique visual, sound and movement language for ‘deep listening’. I am inspired by nature and what the community/public has to offer, contribute and share. This exhibition will translate community poems into movement, language and sound works. Creating a practice of embodiment, the exhibition is about finding my own way of ‘deep listening’. It navigates my connection to the Earth and Nature, here in South Australia, from a non Indigenous persons perspective, whilst holding a deep appreciation and respect for Indigenous connection to the land, sea and sky.
Life is about movement, moving forwards, under, around and through. By utilizing the action of ‘deep listening’, we can access these movements more readily, with a sense of grace, calm, peace and a sprinkle of humour. In these times of busy, busy, rush, rush...by ’listening deeply’ and weaving gossamer threads of nature, connection and community.
Sonya Mellor is a South Australian, multi–disciplinary Sculptural, Installation and Performance Artist. She also is known to dabble in photography, drawing and painting. Having grown up in South Australian nature, this has been a great influence throughout her arts practice.
Growing up as an only child of German immigrants, with no other family around, she has always spent time creating community wherever she goes. This has created an eclectic group of friends and acquaintances from all walks of life. And has given her confidence in creating and facilitating community workshops, as she is always keen to meet new and interesting people. To listen to their stories and adventures and create art and music with them.
Sonya started her professional life as a musician, band leader, music teacher, dancer, and artistic director of various music and dance companies, and having always wanted to study visual arts from an early age, now that her children are older, in 2019 the time had finally come! She is currently a BVA student at ACSA (Adelaide Central School of Art) A feeling of finally having found her people, as she continues to follow this thread to see where it may lead.
Wednesday, November 16, 5.30-8pm (Drop in Care Space, 143 Sturt St, Tarndanya, Adelaide, entrance via driveway on Hamley Street)
Wednesday, December 7, 5:30-8:30pm
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 5:30-8:30pm
Saturday, January 28, 2023 10am-4pm Workshop
Tuesday February 21, 2023 5:30-6:30 Artist talk
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: Free
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Collective will be made up of South Australian based artists who identify as First Nations, and/or People of Colour. This Collective will create a community setting for multi-disciplinary artists to share, create and work collaboratively. Ultimately providing a platform for artists to express themselves and share stories within a safe space, while also making friends and sharing.
The Solidarity Collective have also contributed to Tikari’s solo exhibition Snug Diaries, with an installation of objects, performance and poetry. The emphasis on peer learning and multidisciplinary collaboration within this project create a profound sense of community and care.
What to expect at Collective meet ups:
Facilitated by Tikari, The Mill will host five meet-ups throughout late 2022 and early 2023. While we encourage you to attend in-person, there is flexibility for you to attend via Zoom and when your schedule allows. The meet-ups will include snacks and if you have any access needs to make your time at The Mill more comfortable, please email our team.
Once the five meet-ups have concluded, members of the Solidarity Collective will co-present an artists talk with Tikari, as an extension of their exhibition.
Tikari Rigney is a non-binary Kaurna, Narrunga and Ngarrindjeri visual artist and poet. Working in a range of mediums from performance, illustration sculpture to writing. Their practice references their queer bodily experience, Aboriginality and the complexities of human connection. Exploring themes of humor, rebirth and emotional vulnerability. Tikari is a recipient of The Mill’s BIPOC Sponsored Studio 2022. Rigney participated in the inaugural Zine and Held fair for disabled and people of colour artists at POP gallery. They have exhibited in over five group exhibitions in South Australia. They curated the largest student exhibition at Adelaide Central School of Art during their studies, with over 22 artists and is completing a Bachelor in Visual Arts. Rigney has connections to Carclew through their Creative Consultant program and has completed a culturally diverse illustration commission for Shine SA.
Photo: Johnny von Einem
This project has support from
The Mill’s Sponsored Studio program is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
Studio open at 12:45pm, please arrive then to check in and warm up.
The Mill in partnership with OzAsia Festival present a contemporary movement masterclass with Marrugeku’s Dalisa Pigram and Rachel Swain.
Dalisa Pigram is touring to Adelaide to perform in Gudirr Gudirr as part of 2022 OzAsia Festival.
About the masterclass:
Marrugeku's co-artistic directors Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain will lead a workshop for dancers, movers, and choreographers. The workshop will introduce Marrugeku’s devising approaches drawing on personal and cultural backgrounds to create contemporary movement. We will experiment with techniques to layer and structure movement, ideas, characters and cultural influences. The workshop will draw from the processes Marrugeku used to create Gudirr Gudirr.
Experience level:
Participants should have 2-3 years of experience in one or more of dance, circus, street forms like parkour or hip hop, traditional or contemporary Indigenous dance, martial arts or other movement based practices.
The workshop is also open to actors with some movement experience interested in improvisational movement processes to generate theatre.
About the Co-Artistic Directors:
A Yawuru/Bardi woman born and raised in Broome, Dalisa has worked with Marrugeku since the first production Mimi and has been Co-Artistic Director since 2008. A co-devising performer on all Marrugeku’s productions, touring extensively overseas and throughout Australia. Dalisa’s solo work Gudirr Gudirr earned an Australian Dance Award (Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance 2014) and a Green Room Award (Best Female Performer 2014). Dalisa co-conceived Marrugeku’s Burning Daylight and Cut the Sky with Rachael Swain, co-choreographing both works with Serge Aimé Coulibaly. Together with Swain she co-directed Buru, Ngalimpa and co-curated Marrugeku’s four International Indigenous Choreographic Labs and Burrbgaja Yalirra. Dalisa co-conceived with Rachael Swain and Patrick Dodson Marrugeku’s Jurrungu Ngan-ga [Straight Talk], co-Choreographing the new work with the performers.
Dalisa also co-choreographed and performed in Marrugeku’s new digital work, Gudirr Gudirr video and sound installation. In her community, Dalisa teaches the Yawuru Language at Cable Beach Primary School and is committed to the maintenance of Indigenous language and culture through arts and education. Dalisa is co-editor of Marrugeku: Telling That Story—25 years of trans-Indigenous and intercultural exchange (Performance Research 2021).
Rachael Swain —Artistic Co-director Marrugeku: a settler artist, born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Rachael works between the lands of the Gadigal in Sydney and the lands of the Yawuru in Broome. She is a director and dramaturg of intercultural and trans-disciplinary dance projects and a performance scholar and researcher. Since the company’s founding, she has co-conceived and directed Marrugeku’s productions Mimi, Crying Baby, Burning Daylight, Cut the Sky and Jurrungu Ngan-ga. She co-directed Buruand Ngalimpa with Dalisa Pigram. Rachael was previously Co-Artistic director of Stalker Theatre, co-devising and performing in the early works and directing Blood Vessel, Incognita (with Koen Augustijnen), Sugar and Shanghai Lady Killer. She was dramaturg for Dalisa Pigram’s award winning solo Gudirr Gudirr, Le Dernier Appel and Burrbgaja Yalirra.
Rachael trained at the European Dance Development Centre in Arnhem, the Netherlands, The Amsterdam School for Advanced Theatre and Dance Research (DAS ARTS) and gained a PhD in Performance Studies from Melbourne University. She held an ARC funded post-doctoral research fellowship at Melbourne University 2013-2016. Rachael is the author of Dance in Contested Land—new intercultural dramaturgies (Palgrave 2020) and co-editor of Marrugeku: Telling That Story—25 years of trans-Indigenous and intercultural exchange (Performance Research 2021).
Studio open at 5:15pm, please arrive then to check in and warm up.
The Mill in partnership with OzAsia Festival present a masterclass with Sue Healey that explores the Dancer and the Camera through visual awareness, the frame and movement within it.
Sue Healey is touring to Adelaide to perform in The Long Walk as part of 2022 Oz Asia Festival.
About the masterclass:
The class will open up visual and kinaesthetic awareness through a series of exercises and improvisations that relate to the works Healey is showing in the festival. Participants will move and observe, experimenting with the frame and dynamic nature of a moving camera.
Experience level:
All ages and disciplines are welcome – Open to everyone, though the workshop setting is best suited for artists, filmmakers, cinematographers, choreographers, dancers, performance and media artists. No dance experience required. All movement exercises will be accessible for all abilities.
Requirements:
Participants must bring a smart phone with a camera.
Sue Healey is a Sydney-based choreographer, film-maker and installation artist with 40 years experience in Australia and internationally. She is the recipient of the Australia Council Award for Dance for 2021.
Experimenting with form and perception, Healey creates performance and film for diverse spaces and contexts: galleries, theatres and screens. She tours internationally and has shown her work in many iconic venues, including the Sydney Opera House; Victorian Arts Centre; Lincoln Centre, New York; Red Brick Warehouse, Yokohama, West Kowloon Cultural Precinct, Hong Kong and Aichi Arts Centre, Nagoya Japan.
Sue has created highly acclaimed, large scale projects, in Australia, New Zealand and Asia; including Live Action Relay for Liveworks Festival 2020, City as Portrait Gallery (B.E. Exhibition, Customshouse Sydney 2018), En Route (Wynscreen 2017), On View: Hong Kong - 5 channel installation for West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong (2017), On View: Japan - 5 channel installation Red Brick Warehouse Yokohama 2019, On View: Panorama live performance and film installations that toured Kinosaki, Yokohama and Nagoya, Japan 2020.
When: Friday, September 2, and Saturday, September 3, 8pm
Where:The Flying Nun by Brand X, 34-40 Burton St, Darlinghurst
Cost: $25
Accessibility: If you have access requirements for attending the show, please tick the access requirements box during the booking process. This includes booking companion card tickets. A Brand X team member will then be in touch to ensure we understand your requirements.
As part of the Spotlight / Brand X Residency, 2022 recipient Olenka Toroshenko flew to Sydney to further develop and perform her work i am root as part of Brand X’s Flying Nun Program.
The aim of this residency is to develop national pathways for artists to further develop and present their work interstate along with networking opportunities provided in partnership with Brand X in Sydney.
The residency began at The Mill for 2 weeks earlier in the year, followed by a 1-week residency and performance season at Brand X’s The Flying Nun program. Olenka’s performances will occur on September 2 and 3.
We look forward to reporting on the outcomes from this wonderful development presentation and touring opportunity that is built to empower and support South Australian makers!
Olenka Natalia Toroshenko is a Ukrainian Canadian artist, writer and producer whose life is in service to a saner, meaningful existence. She is a multidisciplinary performer whose mediums include spoken word poetry, dance, clowning, song, storytelling and ritual performance art.
She is a Katonah yoga teacher, student of The Orphan Wisdom School and lover of coniferous forests. She has worked in news broadcasting and politics which helped shape her understanding of the current cultural paradigm. She was the co-producer of “wild”, “Shakti Showcase” and “Shakti Rising” multi-artist/disciplinary productions and has toured 4 different continents as a singer, poet and dancer.
She enjoys producing video projects, Burning Man theme camps, and multidisciplinary shows. She is inspired by collaborating with other artists.
Expressions of interest have closed for The Mill’s Adelaide Fringe 2023 season.
The Mill welcomes artists working in all areas of performance - from live music to theatre, dance, comedy and more. Our venue is a great space for risk-taking, trying out new ideas or presenting fully-realised works.
The Breakout is a 50-seater black-box theatre space adjacent to The Mill’s 35 artist studios and exhibition spaces. Located a 15 minute walk from Rundle Street, our theatre is perfect for intimate artist-audience interactions.
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost:Free
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.
For Nature Festival 2022, The Mill presents a new 6-week exhibition that celebrates the role of art as activism in the context of climate crisis and various political issues. The exhibition features poster art from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), historical works from the FUMA collection, alongside contributions from local activists.
We invite the general public, young people, artists and creatives to contribute to a community poster wall as part of the exhibition. A poster making station with materials will be a permanent feature of the exhibition, with audiences invited to create a poster and add it to the wall. Contributing artists can respond to the theme ‘The World Needs Us, We Need the World’.
A free school holidays workshop (Tuesday, October 11) will invite young people and their families to create and contribute to the exhibition.
Call-out for contributions:
We invite you to contribute a poster to the exhibition to be included in the community poster wall. Flex your creative muscles and design something meaningful and authentic that responds to the theme of the exhibition ‘The World Needs Us, We Need the World’. See examples from AYCC below!
Artworks must be:
A3 or smaller
Able to be pinned to the wall
Welcoming, inclusive and appropriate for all ages (keep it clean folks!)
include your name, email and phone number on the reverse
Studio open at 3:45pm, please arrive then to check in and warm up.
The Mill in partnership with OzAsia Festival present a masterclass with Maria Tran exploring action fight choreography and stage combat.
Maria Tran is touring to Adelaide to perform in ACTION STAR as part of 2022 Oz Asia Festival.
About the masterclass:
The central focus is to give opportunities for artists to explore themselves performatively through the format of action fight choreography and stage combat. Creatives will unpack leadership skills, courage, kindness, and what being strong and taking action means. Skills include improvisation, voice and movement devising, acting, and creating group work scenes.
Experience level:
16+, any level or experience welcome.
Maria has a Bachelor in Psychology, Western Sydney University and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment. She has conducted over a dozen workshop classes in leadership, digital media, creativity, business and entrepreneurship, public speaking and presenting, and acting and performance training for individuals, groups, face-to-face and online, particularly amongst culturally diverse communities.
Her role as Youth Digital Cultures Coordinator with Information & Cultural Exchange (ICE) 2007-2009 led to the activation amongst young people of colour through digital art activism & performance. Since then, she’s designed, implemented, and ran over 100 workshops in Western Sydney and across Australia. Her workshops centre on creativity, psychology, stage combat and fight choreography, acting and performance, self-care, exploring passions, public speaking and presentation, project management, communication, community and cultural development practices, life as an artist, and many more. She currently co-facilitates at Acting For Mindfulness, a training program tailored for artists from culturally diverse backgrounds and descent navigating the acting & performative industries.
The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
The Mill invites you to join us for an intimate yarning circle with exhibiting Antikjrita artist Natalie Austin and Wangkangurru woman and independent curator Marika Davies.
Natalie will have a chat about her work and Marika will keep our hands busy with some weaving while chatting about her role as exhibition curator. We'll also have some tea and biccies!
About the exhibition:
Memory of Water by Antikjrita woman Natalie Austin speaks of the artists connection to Country as motif within her life. Natalie traces her life from child, teen, mother and now grandmother and the meaningful role that water has in her understanding of self, Country and community. Natalie has worked with Wangkangurru woman and independent curator Marika Davies to develop this exhibition, an inaugural collaboration between The Mill and regional South Australian Aboriginal artists. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue essay written by Yankunytjatjara / Kokatha woman and well-known poet Ali Cobby Eckermann.
Memory of Water is presented in partnership with Ku Arts, Ripple Effect/HumanKind and City of Adelaide.
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost:Free
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.
This SALA The Mill's Showcase space hosts Resilience, a solo exhibition by illustrator and educator Viray Thach.
The exhibition elevates the voices of sexual assault survivors and opens conversations of the commonly misunderstood topic. Viray showcases her skills as a digital illustrator, as well as exploring new techniques developed through her six month studio residency at The Mill. She is the recipient of the 2022 Sponsored Studio a new initiative in co-operation with Mahmood Martin Foundation. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue essay written by The Mill's Writer in Residence Renee Miller.
Presented with support from Mahmood Martin Foundation and Arts SA.
Content warning: This exhibition includes sensitive topics around sexual assault. Please be mindful before attending.
Resilience creates a safe space for healing. It’s important to create safe spaces for survivors to be able to talk about their experience, without judgement or fear. And to be able to support them. Loved ones can also step into this space and learn how to empathise and learn how to support. It can be hard to know how to support a friend who has been through something, and it’s hard to speak about something that is considered taboo.
While developing the exhibition I’ve been able to have some open conversations. I’ve been at parties and friends have asked me about my exhibition and that has opened up a conversation about sexual assault that might not have otherwise happened. Education is an important aspect of why I am doing this, through the exhibition I am able to provide knowledge of lived experience.
Creating the works has been part of my own healing process. It has been daunting but cathartic and has helped to release some of the shame I was feeling. Part of this has also been the conversation with other survivors, who responded to me with generosity, openness and detail. Survivors shared their stories via an online survey, which meant they could do it at their own pace. Sharing my own story helped to develop trust, I’m glad that I established a relationship with each of them that they felt safe to share. It is a privilege to be able to speak to someone I barely know about something that is sometimes a deep dark secret. It’s an honour to hold that space for them.
The portraits are challenging to do, a lot of my heart and soul goes into the process. But once they’re done it feels like such a service to the survivors. I hope when the subjects see their portraits that they will feel a sense of strength, hope and light, despite the heaviness of the subject. I want to reflect something that they might not see within themselves- the light and positivity, alongside the darkness.
The lino prints were inspired by poetry and metaphor. Symbolism is something that I use a lot in my practice which has grown from training in graphic design and visual communication. The colour palette is simple but effective. Throughout the works I have used black to represent the darkness, contrasted with the shining golden light, which represents beauty despite pain. The works take you on a poetic journey to another world, a peaceful welcoming space.
I want audiences to understand that the survivors have gone through so much, but have been able to overcome obstacles and hurdles, and as a result I want to show their strength. It is a painful type of beauty, but within this exhibition I hold space for both of these things to sit alongside each other.
Viray Thach is an emerging digital illustrator and educator. Her style, inspired by pop art, art deco and art nouveau, also sees deep-rooted influences from traditional Kbach ornamental designs that pay homage to her Cambodian roots. Viray’s iPad is the digital sketchbook where all the magic happens. Here, she marries the old and the new, using cybernation to recreate time-honoured textures and techniques into tactile designs that evoke a warm, homely compassion.
Formally educated in graphic design, business management and education, Viray is not only dedicated to her role as an illustrator, but as an educator and mentor, cultivating young minds and passing her multi-creative knowledge on to creative visionaries of the next generation. She remains business-minded and efficient while still delivering work full of the heart and soul.
At the root of it, Viray uses her art to tell a story – whether that is through character-rich portraits, lively illustrations, or bringing her mind’s eye to life through magnificent murals.
This exhibition has support from
The Mill’s Visual Arts Studio Residency is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost:Free
Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.
This SALA The Mill presents a new solo exhibition, Memory of Water, by Antikjrita woman Natalie Austin, supported by Wangkangurru woman and independent curator Marika Davies. Natalie speaks of the artists connection and relationship to Country as motif within her life. Natalie traces her life from child, teen, mother and now grandmother and the meaningful role that Country has in her understanding of self and community. She says ‘painting is my passion and gives me peace.’ Natalie has worked with curator Marika Davies to develop this exhibition, an inaugural collaboration between The Mill and regional South Australian Aboriginal artists.
Memory of Water is presented in partnership with Ku Arts, City of Adelaide and Human Kind Studios. The exhibition has also had generous support from Ursula Halpin at Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery.
The exhibition is mostly about Coober Pedy, where I come from and where I grew up. I usually do my artwork with the white dirt, the brown dirt and the colours of the opal. These paintings also have the wildflower colours that come out after a big rain, it’s very pretty.
The first painting is about water, about the creek. But the group of paintings are about connection to the country.
My inspiration is my mother, she was with the Coober Pedy kupa piti kungka Tjuta who protested the nuclear waste dump in the 90’s. She’s been painting most her life and she’s 89 now. She taught me to paint, and it is something that I share with my daughter and my niece. They sit and watch me paint and do their own thing.
Marika Davies is a great help, she’s given me the opportunity to exhibit including in Malka [arts prize at Yarta Purtli, Pt Augusta]. She is a lovely person to work with. It helps to have someone to push me in the right direction. I paint and she organises things to get my paintings out into the word.
I’m excited to be able to show the works in Adelaide. I’m happy to have the works shown and share about my country and the colours and the stories.
Natalie Austin’s ‘Memory of Water’ is an important exhibition. The paintings are about being on Country and being with family. She shows the opal fields and the desert, as well as the desert flowers that bloom after rain. You can see the white throughout all the paintings, which is the colour of the stone layer that holds the opal in the earth. The colours that Natalie has used are the colours in the veins of the white stone, the glistening of the opal. This is part of Natalie’s Country, her family’s Country. Connection to Country is not just what is on top, its also what is underneath. People think of Opal as being about making money, but it is so much more than that. Digging the holes to make mines disrupts Country.
Natalie’s mum is 89 this year, and has been a major influence on Natalie. I would love to see her be able to come and see Natalie’s exhibition, and see what Natalie learned from her on a wall in a gallery space, and the sense of pride that both Natalie and her mum would have. Natalie took on the skill of painting from her mum and has been painting for close to 30 years. That’s how kids learn, from their elders and parents. Your parents are your first teachers. Natalie is a grandparent now and for her children and grandchildren to be able to see her first solo show could inspire the next generation of Natalie’s family.
As a curator it is important to be able to showcase our region, Port Augusta and the mid North. Natalie has been painting for a very long time and she is really happy to have a solo. Audiences can come in to The Mill from anywhere and realise that this artist is just a 3 or 4 hour drive up the road from Adelaide. You can see the painting, the colours and the shapes in the gallery, and you can visit the landscape and see the story of the Country.
It’s really important to see First Nations Artists share their work. There are brilliant artists out there that should be recognised. After contacting Natalie to invite her to exhibit, the first issue was getting materials to her. It’s a low socio-economic region and artists can’t just go into the shop and buy quality materials. Ursula Halpin at Port Pirie Regional Gallery helped with some materials and Ku arts came with more. Access to materials is an issue throughout the region, there are artists that have artworks that they’re ready to make, but they don’t have access. And often what they can get are cheap canvases that easy break, which really devalues the artworks. This region produces world class artworks, and It’s such a great thing to work as an independent Curator with artists, and collaborate with a gallery like The Mill, and with support from Ursula and Ku Arts to create opportunities to upskill and make the incredible works they are ready to make.
I knew of Natalie when I was 16 and just starting out. Then I connected with her last year, I am now 42 and I finally get to work with her- it was just meant to happen!
Artist Natalie Austin was born in Port Augusta, South Australia, in 1964 and grew up in Coober Pedy. She is a descendant of the Antikirinya, Southern Kokatha and Yankunytjatjara peoples. Austin was taught to paint by her mother and has been painting for nearly thirty years. Her work was featured in the Malka Art Prize at Yarta Purtli in 2022 and 2020. She has contributed to the Tarnanthi Art fair at Tandanya from 2017-2019. Other exhibitions include 'Our Mob’ at the Adelaide Festival Centre and the 2008 'Ripples in the Sand’ exhibition at the Port Augusta Cultural Centre, ‘Coast to Coast’ at Fischer Jeffries for SALA, and the Sydney International Art Fair 2019.
Curator Marika Davies is a proud Wangkangurru woman of the Simpson Desert, Birdsville area. She is an emerging artist and independent curator currently living and working in Port Augusta, South Australia. Her interest in pursuing a career in the art industry developed organically through her love and passion for art and its history, and wanting to give back to her community in Port Augusta who nurtured her passion and cultural growth. She is intent on a curatorial career continuing her history of work within the community.
Marika is a talented storyteller, finding new ways to tell stories through curating, painting, jewellery making, photography, radio and film. Currently Marika is undertaking a mentorship with Tarnanthi Festival Director Nici Cumpston OAM and Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery Director Ursula Halpin.
In 2018 and 2019, Marika undertook a curatorial internship for VIETNAM: ONE IN, ALL IN, where she actively assisted throughout project development, gaining experience that helped to springboard her career as an emerging curator.
In 2019, Marika attended the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair as part of the Aboriginal Curators Program and Symposium.
More recently Marika undertook a Podcasting for Beginners Workshop an initiative of the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), Country Arts SA and Riverland Youth Theatre, delivered by experienced First Nations mentor Raymond Zada. In September 2021, Marika’s podcast was aired on the ABC radio. Fresh new podcasts by South Australian First Nations storytellers | indigiTUBE
