Opening Thursday 20 July, 5.30-7.30pm
Unravel the complex histories and traditions of home-making in Sera Waters’ Domestic Arts. Commissioned by ACE Open, the celebrated South Australian artist continues her investigation into the contemporary significance of traditional home-crafts.
In this new body of work, Waters reaches into her own family history to interrogate the ongoing legacies of colonial home-making. Through a re-imagined familial home, Waters’ intricate embroideries and large-scale sculptures celebrate the knowledge and creativity of ‘women’s work’; while also revealing their complicity with forms of colonisation and privilege.
OPENED BY
Peter Louca, Executive Director Arts South Australia, and incorporating the official launch of ACE Open
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sera Waters is a South Australian based artist, arts writer and academic. She is a graduate of the South Australian School of Art (1997-2000), has a Master of Arts (Art History) from University of Adelaide (2004-06), and is currently a PhD candidate at University of South Australia. Since being awarded the Ruth Tuck Scholarship to study hand embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework (UK) in 2006, Waters’ art practice has been characterised by a darkly stitched meticulousness. In particular she specialises in black work, and revels in repetitiveness, pattern and crafting. Waters’ embroideries and hand-crafted sculptures dwell within the gaps of Australian settler colonial histories, mostly to examine the home-making practices of women and her own genealogical ghostscapes. Waters exhibits nationally and is represented by Hugo Michell Gallery.
Friday 21 July – Saturday 26 August
#DomesticArts
Image: Sera Waters, Telling Tales on Terry Towelling: Fashioning locals (2016-17), towel, wool, cotton, bedsheet, velvet, trim, 90 x 50 cm. Courtesy the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery. Photograph: Grant Hancock.
Sera Waters, Telling Tales on Terry Towelling: Fashioning locals (detail) (2016-17), towel, wool, cotton, bedsheet, velvet, trim, 90 x 50 cm. Courtesy the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery. Photograph: Grant Hancock.
