Nicolas Ottavio Saccardo

Nicolas Ottavio Saccardo (he/they) is an emerging visual artist living and practicing on Kaurna land. Utilising primarily drawing and sculpture, their work revolves around an interest in human-object dynamics and finding unexpected ways of viewing often mundane, found materials. Through material-led experimentation, they attempt to intervene with objects as a way to dislodge them from familiar day-to-day contexts and blur the lines between material, place, self, and others, all in a world that grows increasingly dense and chaotic.

Nicolas is a recent graduate from The Adelaide Central School of Art (2024) and is also an active member of Highhorse Collective, a multidisciplinary artist-run group active in the SA arts scene.

Melanie Bakewell

I’m an emerging writer, audio producer and artist currently based on Kaurna land.

I write essays, creative non-fiction and reportage, and my writing has been published in Australian literary magazines including Overland, Kill Yr Darlings, fine print and Debris Magazine (forthcoming 2026).

With an interdisciplinary background in community media, art and audio documentary, my radio writing, audio storytelling and journalism has been published by community radio across Australia, ABC RN, and The Wheeler Centre (VIC).

My print and digital journalism has been published in independent media outlet The Westsider, and RMIT’s The City Journal. I studied Creative Writing as part of my BA undergrad, and in 2024 completed a Grad Dip in Journalism from RMIT.

My creative non-fiction and essays interrogate the systemic and personal, with a particular interest in social justice, community building and the arts, and I am a current member of Writers SA.

Across print and audio, my practice favours local and community storytelling, arts profiles, access to justice, and community activism. I’m driven by responsible reportage and narrative beats, and love delving into story structure and stakes to find the most compelling way to hook a reader or listener.

An experienced interviewer and in-depth researcher, I can flip between hard news and feature writing to personal essays and profiles, and love to creatively tackle nuance and context in features to make them accessible and engaging.

Most recently, I was a scholarship recipient for Faber Academy’s short course Writing The Essay with cultural critic and essayist Eda Gunaydin in late 2025.

Kate Verner

Kate Verner is an emerging South Australian illustrator from a rural background. Her art has a strong focus on expressing emotion, personality and memory through pattern work.

Her passion for art began as a child with a love of bold style and detailed oriented children’s book illustration. Kate graduated from The University of South Australia in 2020 and has since been involved in numerous group exhibitions including the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition (2020) and 100 Barossa Artists (2020), leading into her first solo exhibition during the 2021 SALA. Her exhibition titled Fragments was the beginning of her new focus on abstract design.

Kate’s print collections are predominantly sweet and simple character designs perfect for children’s rooms and modern homes. Tossed in also are more vibrant works which express simple narratives or simply look beautiful. Her work is available for purchase at her online stores or at markets in Adelaide throughout the year.

Into 2022 Kate is focusing on expanding her skills by exploring visual arts mediums and returning to working with wood and clay. She is also working on expanding her store to included sustainably made garments featuring her developing colourful style.

Bethan Maddison

Bethan graduated from SAE Adelaide in 2017 with a Diploma of Sound Production, and has been working as a freelance audio engineer ever since. She works predominantly from her studio at The Mill, but also frequently runs sessions out of the many other amazing studios Adelaide has to offer - all the while being a graduated Intern from Chapel Lane Studios.

Bethan offers mixing, mastering, recording and producing on an international scale. When she is not working with clients, she makes her own music under the alias MARRS.

Andrew Dearman

Andrew Dearman is an Adelaide based artist/educator with experience in a range of disciplines including sculpture, photography, and arts writing. 

In recent years he has explored a more academic research practice which focuses on embodied epigenetically inherited memory of place. 

Currently, Andrew is developing an analogue photographic practice using a ‘camara minutera’, an instant box camera used by street photographers primarily for the purpose of portraiture.