CV + BIO
Sera Waters
Sera Waters is an artist living on Kaurna Country, South Australia. 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 ghostscapes. More recently Waters has been exploring how textile traditions can help navigate a future affected by climate change.
In 2022 Waters was selected for the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State at Art Gallery of South Australia. Her series, Storied Sail Cloths, travelled to the Busan Biennale 2022: We, on the Rising Wave, South Korea. Throughout 2022 Waters realised her `Future Traditions' project, enabled by the 2020 Guildhouse Fellowship, with a resulting exhibition at Art Gallery of South Australia. Other exhibitions include Radical Textiles at Art Gallery of South Australia (2024), Poetics of Place II at ATTA Gallery, Bangkok, and Domestic Arts which toured South Australian regional galleries with Country Arts SA (in partnership with ACE Open) from 2020. Other major exhibitions include Dark Portals, at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia (2013), Sappers and Shrapnel at Art Gallery of South Australia (2016) and Going Round in Squares at Ararat Gallery TAMA (2019).
Her works are held by the Cruthers collection of Women’s Art, Australian War Memorial, Artbank, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Ararat TAMA Regional Gallery, Powerhouse and private collections nationwide. Waters is a studio member of Central Studios, lecturer at Adelaide Central School of Art.
EDUCATION
2014-2018 PhD candidature, School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia
2003-2006 Master of Arts in Art History, University of Adelaide
1997-2000 Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours), SASA, University of South Australia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Collared & Cuffed, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2023 Sera Waters: Hugo Michell Gallery, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2023, Sydney, NSW
2022-23 Future Traditions, Art Gallery of South Australia as part of Guildhouse Fellowship
2021 Familiar Activism: Truth-Telling, Noticeboard United, Uffington, Lincolnshire, UK
Specks, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2020 Domestic Arts, touring exhibition with Country Arts SA to SA regional galleries (from 2020-2021)
2019 Dazzleland, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Going Round in Squares, Ararat Gallery (TAMA), Ararat, VIC
2018 Genealogical Ghostscapes, praxis ARTSPACE, Adelaide, SA
Limb by Limb, Art Collective, Perth, WA
2017 Domestic Arts, ACE Open, Adelaide SA
2015 Spectre Folk, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA
2014 Ghostscapes, Fontanelle Gallery, Adelaide SA
2013 Dark Portals, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia WA
2011 CavernLight, Lowrise Projects, Melbourne VIC
Flocked, Inside SAM’s Place residency, SA Museum (with Craftsouth), Adelaide SA
2010 Flyblown, FELTspace, Adelaide SA
2009 Craft’n Disaster, The Project Space, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide SA
2008 artroom5, Adelaide SA
2006 Crooks & Nannies, downtown art space, Adelaide SA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award 2025, Wangaratta Art Gallery, Wangaratta, VIC
Poetics of Place II, ATTA Gallery, Bangkok Thailand
Living Memory, Floating Goose Studios, Adelaide SA
Fabrik x ACSA, Fabrik Arts + Heritage, Lobethal SA
2024 Radical Textiles, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA
all things connected, Fabrik Arts + Heritage, Lobethal SA
Stuffed, Bolstered and Upholstered, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth WA
Stability, Grace, Endurance: Hand Crafted in Early Barossa, Barossa Regional Gallery, Tanunda SA
Transformative Repair, JamFactory, Adelaide SA
2023 Celebrating 15 Years of Hugo Michell Gallery, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA
Weaving Together - Tapestries from the Artbank Collection, Artbank Melbourne, Collingwood, VIC
2022 Busan Biennale: We, On the Rising Wave, Busan, South Korea
Adelaide Biennial of Australia Art: Free/State, The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
A Tangled Bank, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith
Text Tile, CAVES Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Eucalyptusdom, Museum of Applied Arts & Science (Ultimo's Powerhouse), Sydney
Embroidery: Opression to Expression, The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide, SA
Weaving Futures, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne
Drawn Thread, artisan, Brisbane
We wish to Communicate HOPE: SA Artists for Climate Action, Noticeboard United, Uffington, Lincolnshire UK
Make the World Again, curator: Kevin Murray online: maketheworldagain.net
Drastic Fabric, Adelaide Central School of Art Gallery, Adelaide SA
2019 Ramsay Art Prize, Art Gallery of South Australia
Domestic Craft, curator: Nicole O'Loughlin, Rosny Barn, Hobart, TAS
2018 Chaozhou International Embroidery Art Biennial, China
Stitch Cult, artisan, Brisbane Qld
DECADE, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA
WORD, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA
Psychache, Holy Rollers, Adelaide SA
Making History, Hahndorf Academy, Hahndorf, SA
2017 Wangaratta Textile Award, Wangaratta Gallery, Vic
2016 Sappers & Shrapnel, curator: Lisa Slade, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA
Heysen Prize for Landscape 2016 (Winner), Hahndorf Academy, Hahndorf, SA
Illusions of History, Hugo Michell Gallery, SA
Meta Ort, curator: Karen Paris, Unley Museum, Adelaide SA
Fleurieu Art Prize, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide SA
Guildhouse 50, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA
Vote For Me, Format Gallery, curators: Powerhouse: Brigid Noone & Kate Power, Adelaide SA
Spring 1883 (Hugo Michell Gallery), Melbourne Vic
15 Artists 2016, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Redcliffe, Qld
2015 Slipstitch, curator: Belinda von Mengersen, Ararat Regional Gallery (and touring Vic and NSW until 2017)
The Mythology of my Land, .M Contemporary, Woollahra NSW
Skin Off Our Time, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide SA
FELTpublic, FELTspace, Adelaide SA
Craft Anonymous, curator: Polly Dance, Adelaide Town Hall (touring regional SA 2016-2018), SA
Life in Still, curated by Melinda Rankin, Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, SA
2014 The Extreme Climate of Nicholas Folland, Art Gallery of South Australia, SA
135th Meridian East, curator: Andre Lawrence, aeaf, Adelaide SA
Art House: the local ghost laboratory, curated by Brigid Noone, Stall 61, Adelaide Central Markets, Adelaide SA
2013 Crystal Palace, curator: Lisa Harms, Flinders University Gallery, Adelaide SA
Life, Stitching, curators: Linda Marie Walker & Pam Hale, Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier SA
Beyonce is a feminist, Fontanelle Gallery, Adelaide SA
2012 Nadlewerk, Galerie Handwerk, Curator: Elisabeth Bosch, Munich, Germany
Objectified, South Australia School of Art Gallery, curator: Karen Paris, Adelaide SA
...build me a city, aeaf, curator: Vivonne Thwaites, Adelaide SA
2011 Sensorial Loop, Tamworth Textile Triennial, curator: Patrick Snelling, Tamworth, NSW (+ touring)
Imagining Interiors, curator: Wendy Walker, Jam Factory, Adelaide, SA
Home Stories, Adelaide Central Gallery + Migration Museum, curator: Vivonne Thwaites, Adelaide SA
2010 Moving Wounded (ongoing participatory project): http://littleweeds.conservatory.org.au/theMovingWounded.html
Little Weeds, online (littleweeds.conservatory.org.au) + Peel Street exhibition space (with Format Festival) + Seedling Art Space, curator: Lisa Harms, Adelaide SA
2009 Talente 2009, International Trade Fair, Munich, Germany
Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award, Wangaratta Vic
2001 Hatched, National Graduate Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth WA
SELECTED GRANTS, AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2026 Sauerbier House Artist in Residence, Port Noarlunga SA
2025 Bundanon Artist in Residence, NSW
Wangaratta Textile Award,
2020 Guildhouse Fellowship 2020, Guildhouse, Art Gallery of South Australia & James and Diana Ramsay Foundation
2019 Selected for Ramsay Art Prize 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA
2018 Winner of The Hill Smith Gallery/UniSA Postgraduate Award, Helpmann Graduate Exhibition 2018
2016 Winner of Heysen Prize for Landscape 2016, Hahndorf Academy, Hahndorf, SA
2016 Australian Tapestry Workshop residency, Melbourne
2015 Hawke EU Centre Travel Bursary: Mnemonics: Memory and Materialism workshop, King’s College, London
2014 NAVA Travel Bursary: Future/Forward, Sydney NSW
2013 New work – Mid-career, Australia Council for the Arts
Project Grant, Arts SA
2010 Project & Development Grant, Arts SA
2005 Ruth Tuck Scholarship, South Australian Youth Arts Board
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2022 Interview with Rosa Ellen,’ The Art Show’, 30 March 2022, Radio National (Australia)
2022 Interview with Eloise Fuss, ‘Art Works’, Episode 1, Series 2, ABC television (Australia)
Liz Cooper, ‘imperfect past tense’, embroidery (UK), January/February 2022, pp. 32-37.
2021 Daniel Mudie Cunningham, ‘Notable Accolades: 17: Sera Waters’, Art Collector: 50 Things Collectors Should Know, #95 Jan-Mar 2021, pp. 119-121.
2018 Sheridan Coleman, ‘Sera Waters unpicks the long stitches of Australian History ‘, Art Guide Australia, October 2018
Jane Llewellyn, ‘Sera Waters celebrates the Domestic Arts’, The Adelaide Review, July 21 2018,
2017 Miriam Kelly, ‘Sera Waters: Domestic Arts’, Artlink, Issue 37:4, December, pp. 48-55.
Interview with Sarah Kanowski, ‘Sera Waters’ Ghostly Embroideries’, Friday 21 July 2017, Radio National
McDonald, John, ‘Sappers and Shrapnel’, Sydney Morning Herald, January 13, http://johnmcdonald.net.au/2017/sappers-and-shrapnel/
2016 Pitt, Elspeth, ‘Sappers & Shrapnel: Contemporary Art and Art of the Trenches, Artlink, November, https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4560/sappers-26-shrapnel-contemporary-art-and-the-art-of/
2016 Purvis, Andrew, ‘Vote For Me’, Artlink, September, https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4536/vote-for-me/
2016 de Boer, Janet, ‘A Curious Collision’, embroidery (UK), July/August 2016, pp. 28-33.
2015 Peers, Juliette, ‘Slipstitch’, Artlink, vol 35 no 2, June 2015.
2014 White, Sara, ‘Ghostscapes: Sera Waters’, Artlink, vol 34 no 2, June 2014.
2013 Coleman, Sheridan, ‘Dark Portals: Sera Waters’, Art Monthly Australia, 264 October 2013, pp. 39-42.
2012 Neylon, John, 'Sparks in the Dark', The Adelaide Review, November.
2011 Harms, Lisa, ‘Sera Waters’, FELTspace GOLD, pp. 116-119.
2011 Neylon, John, ‘Flights of Fancy’, The Adelaide Review, April
2011 Nunn, Louise, ‘The Birds up there’, The Advertiser, July 7
2010 Hart, Jenny, ‘Sera Waters’, Embroidery as Art blog, Jan 12,
2009 Hemmings, Dr Jessica, ‘The Dark Side’, embroidery (UK), vol. 60, Sept/Oct 2009, pp. 24-27.
2009 Dunt, Nerina, ‘Craft’n Disaster: Sera Waters’, Object, issue 59, October, p. 58.
2009 Adams, Jude, 'Three Artists- in the world: Anne Kay, Irmina Van Niele, Sera Waters', Artlink, vol 29, no 2.
2007 Zeplin, Dr Pamela, ‘Sera Waters: Crooks & Nannies’, Craft Culture online, Craft Victoria,
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2010-current Studio member of The Incinerator, Thebarton, SA
2005-current Lecturing, Adelaide Central School of Art & Head of Art History and Theory Department (2015)
2004-current Arts writer for various local and national publications and catalogues
2013-2014 Carclew Youth Arts Project & Development Grants Advisory Committee
2007-2009 Peer Assessment Panel, Arts SA
COLLECTIONS
The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art (University of Western Australia)
The Art Gallery of South Australia
Ararat Regional Gallery
Powerhouse Museum of Applied Art & Science
Art Gallery of Ballarat
Australian War Memorial Collection
Private Collections across Australia