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
Any cancellations due to Covid-19, tickets will be refunded.
Please note participants will need to be double vaccinated to attend. Please have your vaccination certificate ready to check in to the masterclass. you will not be permitted entry without it.
The Mill in Partnership with Adelaide Festival present a masterclass with Bangarra Dance Theatre (NSW) - an exploration of cultural elements of dance in a contemporary setting.
About the masterclass:
While in Adelaide performing in Adelaide Festival, Bangarra is committed to engaging with the community beyond the performance and will be holding a contemporary dance workshop. This session focusses on exploring cultural elements of dance in a contemporary setting.
Facilitated by two of the company members, who share the rich culture and history that is sewn through their storytelling.
Wudjang: Not the Past follows the journey to honour Wudjang with a traditional resting place on Country. Combining poetry, spoken storytelling and live music with our unique dance language, this profoundly evocative piece of First Nations performance promises to be a benchmark Australian production.
Wudjang: Not the Past can be seen at the Festival Theatre from Tuesday 15 – Friday 18 March
Experience level:
First Nations and Indigenous high school / tertiary students (preferred) or dance specialist high school/tertiary level students. Age: 14 - 26 yrs.
Note: Dance specialist school students will require a teacher to attend and supervise
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation and one of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, widely acclaimed nationally and around the world for our powerful dancing, distinctive theatrical voice and utterly unique soundscapes, music and design.
Led by Artistic Director Stephen Page, Executive Director, Lissa Twomey and Associate Artistic Director Frances Rings, we are currently in our 32nd year but our dance technique is forged from over 65,000 years of culture, embodied with contemporary movement. The company’s dancers are professionally trained, dynamic artists who represent the pinnacle of Australian dance. Each has a proud Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background, from various locations across the country.
Rikki Mason is a descendant of the Kullili people from South West Queensland and is from Inverell in Northern New South Wales. Rikki also has Danish, German, Scottish and Irish heritage.
Rikki was born and raised in the country town of Inverell on land of the Gamilaraay people. He grew up playing football representing NSW Country Catholic Schools for Rugby League, NSW CHS for Touch Football and studying Koshiki Karate he was named Junior World Champion in 2000. He took his first dance class in 2007 at the age of 17 and went on to train at the Australian Dance Performance Institute (ADPI) and L’Ecole-Atelier Rudra-Bejart in Switzerland.
Rikki has performed with the Brisbane City Youth Ballet, Queensland National Ballet, Lucid Dance Theatre and Television shows including Everybody Dance Now (2012) and So You Think You Can Dance (2014).
Rikki joined Bangarra in 2014, and has since toured regionally, nationally, internationally and On Country in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities all over Australia. Performing On Country is always a highlight for Rikki as well as performing solo The Call from Walkabout on stages around the world. "Connecting and performing stories gifted to Bangarra from communities around Australia is a great honour."
Rika Hamaguchi is from Broome in Western Australia. She is a descendant of the Yawuru, Bunaba, Bardi and Jaru people in the Kimberley Region. Rika also shares Japanese, Chinese and Scottish ancestry.
Before joining Bangarra in 2015, Rika studied at NAISDA Dance College, where she was awarded the prestigious Chairman’s Award.
Rika is a senior artist with the company and is grateful to have worked with a number of artists and cultural tutors throughout her career. She is honoured to be able to perform and consult on a Kimberley work such as SandSong. She’d like to acknowledge The Kimberley community back home who have shaped her into who she is today.
Rika has toured nationally (Bennelong, lore, OUR land people stories, Dark Emu and 30 years of sixty five thousand), regionally (Kinship, Terrain, OUR land people stories, Bennelong, Spirit: a Retrospective) and internationally (Europe, Asia, America).
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.
Sanaa is a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary cultural arts collective, facilitating and celebrating the power of art and its capacity to bridge cultural gaps. The Mill’s partnership with Sanaa offers one Sponsored Studio for culturally diverse artists.
An African artist will join The Mill’s studio community for 6-weeks, also presenting an artist talk and workshop with support from The Mill and Sanaa. The residency will culminate in a group exhibition at Kerry Packer Civic Gallery at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, February-March 2023.
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
In May-July 2022, The Mill continued our focus on Visual Arts collaborations, presenting One, a new exhibition by emerging multidisciplinary artists Tarsha Cameron and Tailor Oriana-Julie Winston. With an interest in developing relational connections and shared stories, Tarsha and Tailor developed a unique, evolving installation in the gallery. During the first ‘soft opening’ week audiences were invited to visit and witness the work in progress, share their responses and also contribute. With sculptural, installation, sound, photography, video, painting and textiles, One is an exploration of collaboration and connectivity.
Image: Tarsha and Tailor in the Exhibition Space, Photo Morgan Sette.
Artist statement
The threads of connection
Stay
Forever present
In our genes
Across space and time
And
In our bodies; flesh and ethereal
Life is an entangled whole
Connectivity surrounds us. It is more than just between you and I, but also between the moon and the stars, the trees and the sea; all living beings living in symbiosis with one another. Close your eyes and notice for a moment. Breathe. Feel it in the air. Feel it in you.
One attempts to creatively explore and materialise the more complex and subtle forms of collaboration that occur in everyday life, yet remain hidden to our visual and auditory perception. We are in constant developmental flux with ourselves, nature, our immediate and distant surroundings; reciprocally invoking the law of cause-and-effect that expands across time, space and place.
The process leads us into a philosophical investigation where everything co-exists, akin to an ecosystem with many differing identities that inform, inspire, and rely on the other. It is a continuous collaborative exploration as we respond to and negotiate nature, each other, and our close and more remote environmental, historical and ancestral storylines.
Situated on Kaurna Yarta, One culminates as a work that is both fluid and organic, still, yet full of life. A reflection of the interconnectedness of existence.
Social photos: Daniel Marks / All other photos: Morgan Sette.
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
Each year The Mill presents a series of SALA Masterclasses with prominent South Australian artists. We invite practicing artists and creatives to participate, offering the opportunity to grow their practice through learning new skills, connecting with peers and developing insight into professional artists practice.
The Mill's Masterclass program runs throughout the year as a professional development program for artists, offering workshops with established international and national touring artists in both performance and visual arts. These diverse sessions draw South Australian artists into global conversations around aesthetic, performance and creative practice.
Learn to carve jewellers wax to create your own ring using the lost wax casting method. We'll carve with files, pick with tools and melt with flame until you've made yourself a masterpiece. Jewellers wax is a medium like no other; easy to get lost in and can take on so very many forms. We will explore different shapes, textures and techniques (please note, this workshop does not include working with stones). No two rings are ever the same, just uniquely yours!
At the end of the session, Nativis, aka Elly, will collect all your finished wax moulds. They're then cast in solid silver, after which Elly tackle the processing for you, and return to you your shiny, finished piece. Making jewellery is wonderful but sharing the experience is more-so, this is my way to get people involved and bring them closer to a slow and conscious way of creating.
About the artist:
Elly Pepper is a predominantly self-taught jeweller; creating one-off pieces from recycled solid silver and gold, and ethically sourced stones. Her works range from simple studs to future heirloom pieces, as she enjoys continuing to build her skillset and experimenting with new techniques.
As a trained horticulturalist, her work is continuously inspired by nature, the earth, and the beautiful stones she holds, particularly Australian opal. Elly began offering wax workshops mid-2021, hoping to bring to life the opportunity to make a gift instead of buying it, an experience for you and your loved ones to create treasures you will hold forever, made by your own two hands. Her dream of bringing people together over food and drink to create is well and truly alive within these workshops!
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Masterclass: Process-based Approaches & Resolutions with Ruby Chew
Join Ruby Chew for a two day process based workshop at The Mill. Ruby will guide participants through techniques in abstraction and alternative making techniques building towards creating an abstract painting on wood board.
This workshop is suitable for beginners through to established artists, with a focus on experimentation, play, exploration, and composition. Ruby is a generous teacher with many years experience teaching and as a practicing artist.
Students will need to provide some basic materials (scissors, glue stick, wood board etc. list will be provided with ticket), and The Mill will provide other materials for the group to share.
About the artist:
Ruby Chew is a painter who employs process-based making techniques to create open dialogues with her viewers whilst exploring the fluidity of pictorial space. Completing a BA Visual Arts Hons. at Adelaide Central School of Art (2010), along with further study at Central Saint Martins, London and the Florence Academy of Art, Florence, Ruby’s practice is deeply rooted in traditional painting techniques, which are the foundation of her practice.
Ruby is a Ruth Tuck Scholarship recipient (2015) and has exhibited, taught and held residency positions interstate and overseas. She has had numerous solo exhibitions, notably Portraits at Magazine Gallery (2011), Spitting Image at Hill Smith Gallery (2012) and The Difference Between Things at Floating Goose Studios (2021).
Her artworks are in public and private collections across Australia, Canada, Malaysia and London. She currently lives and works in Adelaide, South Australia.
Image: Viray Thach
Workshop: Beginners lino printing with Viray Thach
When:Sunday, August 21, or Saturday, September 10, 12-4pm
If you're looking for an opportunity to be creative, join Sponsored Studio artist Viray Thach for an illustration and lino print workshop. This beginners workshop will introduce skills in preparing a design, carving lino and printing, and all participants will take home finished artworks.
Held in The Mill’s exhibition space alongside Viray’s solo exhibition Resilience, the workshop will be intimate and casual and is open to complete beginners.
About the artist:
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.
The Mill is thrilled to announce Tikari Rigney as the recipient of the Sponsored Studio for the July-December 2022 residency. The Mill’s Sponsored Studio is a new initiative supported by the Mahmood Martin Foundation. In 2022 two selected artists will join our community, with each receiving 6-months of studio space and an exhibition outcome as part of Gallery II.
Tikari Rigney is a non-binary (they/them) 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.
Rigney is a First Nations Curator at ACE Open. 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
The Mill’s Sponsored Studio program is presented in cooperation with Mahmood Martin Foundation
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 will be hosting a work-in-progress Q&A for Samuel Lau’s Walk of the Ancestors, with mentorship from Brink Productions director Chris Drummond.
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Walk of the Ancestors is a project that explores how Eastern philosophy and values, such as filial piety and ancestor veneration have manifested and directed Samuel Lau’s life as a second-generation Chinese- Australian.
This development opportunity has provided a mentorship with Director Chris Drummond to explore further into the writings of the play.
The Q&A will be between Samuel and Chris, supported by The Mill Associate Producer Louie Dempsey.
Samuel Lau is an Adelaide-based actor and musician. With cultural roots in Hong-Kong, Sam is a second- generation Chinese-Australian. A 2019 graduate of the Adelaide College of Arts Acting program, he has since worked in a variety of mediums such as ABC’s TV series Aftertaste, Anifex studio’s animation film The Better Angels and Too Dumb Blonde’s productions of Does it Please You? which was the recipient of the 2021 Holden Street Theatre Award. Sam often explores themes of diaspora in his works, such as through his 2021 MakeSpace Artist Residency where he dove into the cultural identity of being in-between cultures; investigating his lifelong navigation of liminal spaces both culturally and spiritually.
Chris Drummond is Artistic Director of Brink Productions. His productions have been presented by most major theatre companies and arts festivals in Australia. Credits include The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Memorial, Long Tan, The Aspirations of Daise Morrow, Babyteeth, Thursday, The Hypochondriac, When the Rain Stops Falling and Night Letters. He was nominated for a 2009 Helpmann Best Director Award for The Flying Dutchman (SOSA) and his productions have won Ruby, Adelaide Critics Circle, Green Room (Vic) and Sydney Theatre awards. Chris was Associate Director of State Theatre Company of South Australia from 2001 to 2004.
In 2023, six artists (visual artists, performers, dancers film and media artists) will participate in a collaborative intensive facilitated by Margie Medlin with support from award-winning creative producers and multimedia specialists Illuminart.
PTT combines rapid skills development in emerging technologies in art and exhibition outcomes to support the exploration of interdisciplinary, site-specific and audience-focused new work.
This program follows Expand’s 2021program Cinematic Experiments, a 10-day laboratory facilitated by Medlin, The Mill and Mercury CX, in response to creatives pushing further into exploring hybrid / digital platforms. The six artists for PTT will be selected from those who attended Cinematic Experiments, to continue this learning.
PTT participants will experience four, high-level professional development masterclasses in The Breakout at The Mill, and dedicate time to experimenting with projection technologies within their practice. The work created will culminate in Make|Shift, a 6 week immersive group exhibition in The Mill’s Exhibition Space, including an artist forum and access tours to engage audiences in the process of creation.
The ilDance Professional Development program provides the opportunity for an emerging South Australian based dancer within five years of graduating from a tertiary institution, to work with ilDance’s project-based junior company, ilYoung, in the creation process and tour of a new dance work throughout Sweden.
This program is presented in partnership between The Mill, Adelaide, and ilDance, Sweden.
The opportunity will provide valuable mentorship from ilDance company’s founders and choreographers Lee Brummer and Israel Aloni, as well as experience working and touring with a professional dance company.
ilDance is an international and independent contemporary dance company that initiates and operates several pioneer projects. The company was founded in 2012 by its current Artistic Directors, Israel Aloni and Lee Brummer, and it is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The total value of The ilDance Professional Development opportunity, going directly to the artist and presented in partnership between The Mill and ilDance, Sweden, is approximately $17,000.
Important information
This is comprised of both cash and in-kind support provided to the successful recipient:
$4,000 cash from The Mill toward travel, travel insurance, any necessary visas and accomodation
$13,000 value from ilDance, a significant in-kind contribution to the dancer’s participation in ilYoung. This will cover costs associated with the creation process, travel and accommodation during the creative development and performance tour, artistic mentorship, workshops and creator fees.
$35,000 SEK accommodation
$7,000 SEK travels (creation + tour)
$50,000 SEK mentorship, workshops & classes with guests
Total: $92,000 SEK ($13,000 AUD)
Residency and Tour Dates: Late June/early July - September 2023 (exact dates TBA).
Eligible dancers:
Final year students or graduates from AC Arts or other SA-based dancers from other institutions within 5 years of graduation (and between the ages of 18-27 at the time of the audition)
Audition details
When: Sunday, December 11, 2022, 10am-5pm (studio available from 9am, audition will include a warm-up class)
Where: Dance Hub SA, Lion Arts Centre, Cnr Morphett St & North Tce, Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide)
Dancers are required to bring:
A printed version of your CV including a recognisable photo of yourself on the day of the audition
A bottle of water and a small lunch with them for the audition day
Following the audition, applicants will be shortlisted. These applicants will progress to the next round of the audition process and will be asked to complete a more detailed written application and/or interview. The successful applicant will be notified by the end of January 2023.
Applicants are required to read the information sheet about ilDance and the program before registering.
