Sera Waters

We are thrilled to share that Sera Waters’ exhibition ‘Future Traditions’ is now open to the public at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

In this second iteration of the Guildhouse Fellowship, South Australian artist Sera Waters imagines a new future for us all – one where ancient textile traditions can craft hope in the face of climate change.

Waters is well known for her revival of endangered ways of making, whereby age-old embroidery techniques are restored to comment on our complex and often confronting colonial histories. In this exhibition, the past paves the way for a new future and by reclaiming the traditions that our great-great-great-grandmothers performed we can move, together, towards an alternative liveable future.

‘Future Traditions’, presented in Gallery 9, hinges on community and those who have kept this knowledge alive over generations. A shared space, the exhibition includes experiments, artefacts, texts, events, workshops and works of art.

The exhibition will be on display from 26 Nov 2022 to 16 Apr 2023.

Sera Waters, Noticing Sampler, 2022, cotton on repurposed and hand-dyed linen, 50 x 32 cm. Photography by Grant Hancock

We are thrilled to share that Sera Waters has been selected for the 2022 Busan Biennale: We, on the Rising Wave.

The Biennale’s title symbolizes the constant inflow and outflow of immigrants from other port cities around the world, suggesting global interconnectedness. It is also a metaphor for dissemination in an environment of technological change, as well as a description of Busan’s rolling landscape of seaside hills.

The Busan Biennale artistic director Haeju Kim shares: “The exhibition will put forward a viewpoint that narrates the stories of backstreets in Busan, and how they are intersected and connected to that of other major cities, in an attempt to explore ways adapting to the ever-changing world as we ride the waves ahead of us.”

Presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, the exhibition – an exploration of collective memory and a reflection on movement and history – will spread to Pier 1 of Busan Port and a house in Choryang from 3 September to 6 November 2022

Hugo Michell Gallery invites you to the exhibitions ‘Low Pressure System’, a collaborative exhibition by James Dodd & Henry Jock Walker, and ‘Specks’ by Sera Waters. These exhibitions are presented as part of the 2021 SALA Festival.

*Please note*
-Due to the current government restrictions we are unable to serve refreshments at this exhibition opening and you are required to wear a mask.
-If you wish to join us for the opening of these exhibitions, RSVP is essential to mail@hugomichellgallery.com

‘Low Pressure System’ by James Dodd & Henry Jock Walker brings together a collection of ongoing investigations and will include a new teamwork exploration.  Whilst having shared many art adventures together, this will be the first duo exhibition for the pair. This exhibition plays out the affinitive connection that both Dodd and Walker have for painting, colour and abstraction.

Whilst the works of each artist show strong visual correlations; their individual approaches, processes and materials are embedded with varied content.  Dodd continues his investigations into the use of mechanical devices such as painting tools and industrial processes and Walker continues his sew collage of pre-loved wetsuits.

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‘Specks’, by Sera Waters presents a body of work that were made during a time of the pandemic, lockdowns, grief, and grappling with growing climactic disasters. Sera has sensitively communicated these themes through laboured methods allowing time for her own and audience reflection.

“I imagine the atmosphere of now is full of specks; specks of the past, specks of data, specks of living matter, specks of stuff. Specks link to others to make threads, then tangles, then whole interconnected networks, that are the basis of the stories and material worlds we inherit and continue to create for the next generations. These artworks were made during the time of the pandemic, lockdowns, my own grief, and my grappling with growing climatic disasters. They transform specks of data, family histories, found materials, and textile traditions into tales, reminders, and laborious reckonings. These stories of stumps, drought-ridden land, extreme heat, and invasive species all arise from past entangles; from a want for wood, from a stowaway pest, from traditions introduced ill-fittingly to another’s faraway land. Tracing these tangles, following their threads, is a way of learning from them, redirecting their accumulated specks into new stories for the future.”

Exhibition runs from: 3 August – 28 August
Official Exhibition opening: Thursday 5 August 6-8 pm
Exhibition Finissage: Saturday 28th August

Hugo Michell Gallery acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

Sera Waters speaks with the Bordertown Chronicle about the unveiling of the project Telling Tales, a joint venture between Ms Waters, artist Jo Fife, the Riddoch Art and Cultural Centre, Country Arts SA and Walkway Gallery. This announcement was made at the launch of Waters’ touring exhibition Domestic Arts at Walkway Gallery, Bordertown, on July 9th.

“It’s about domestic tales, family histories and how they haven’t always had a spot in Australia’s official history, so I am trying to bring those back into the narrative,” she said.

“I think there are so many fascinating tales that come out of people’s family histories and also the material stuff in there as well – It’s the materials that are at hand, we are so familiar with them, and we know them, and they are powerful materials.

“These are all family stories in one way or another – my mum was a great family historian, but they speak to other people’s families.“It’s all kind of knotty and tangled – we’re all entangled with each other in some way or another.” – Sera Waters

Click here to read the full article.

The exhibition Domestic Arts on showing at Walkway Gallery until August 29th, 2021. The collaborative Telling Tales work can be viewed at the Tatiara Civic Centre until September 5th.

Sera Waters, Sternum: containing, 2017, found bedspread, hand-dyed bed sheets, cotton, stuffing, rope, found handles, 300 x 150 cm approx. Photography by Grant Hancock.

Congratulations to Sera Waters who has been announced as the 2020 Guildhouse Fellowship recipient!

The Guildhouse Fellowship, valued at over $50,000, was inaugurated in 2019 with the generous support of South Australian philanthropists, The James & Diana Ramsay Foundation, to recognise and elevate South Australian artistic ambition.

The selection panel for the 2020 Guildhouse Fellowship comprised AGSA Director Rhana Devenport ONZM, Guildhouse CEO Emma Fey and Sebastian Goldspink, the recently announced curator of the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.

Sera Waters is an Adelaide based artist, arts writer and academic. Since being awarded a Ruth Tuck Scholarship in 2006 to study hand embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework (UK), Waters’ art practice has been characterised by a darkly stitched meticulousness. Her embroideries and hand-crafted sculptures dwell within the gaps of Australian histories to examine settler-colonial home-making patterns and practices, especially her own genealogical ghost escapes.

Press:
Indaily
The Adelaide Review
Art Collector

Sera Waters and Paul Yore are showing in ‘Domestic Crafts’ at Rosny Barn, Tasmania curated by Nichole O’Loughlin.

This group exhibition showcases boundary pushing, textile-based works.  The exhibition acknowledges the demarcation between craft and fine art since the 1970s which has paved the way for contemporary artists to use textiles in dynamic and powerful ways.  ‘Domestic Crafts’ features artists who employ textiles in diverse methods, including embroidery, quilting and soft sculpture. 

The exhibition includes emerging and established Tasmanian, Australian and international artists to provide a broad picture of the current state of contemporary textiles.

Exhibition runs until 22 December 2019.