I acknowledge the Kaurna and Bunganditj people, upon whose Country I live and research, and hold deep respect to elders past and present.
About
Sera Waters is an artist, arts writer and academic living on Kaurna land, 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 included in the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State at Art Gallery of South Australia (curated by Sebastian Goldspink). Her series, Storied Sail Cloths, then travelled to the Busan Biennale 2022: We, on the Rising Wave, South Korea (curated by Haeju Kim). Throughout 2022 Waters also continued her ‘Future Traditions’ project, enabled by being awarded the 2020 Guildhouse Fellowship (with Art Gallery of South Australia, supported by the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation). The outcome of this research was exhibited in Gallery 8 at Art Gallery of South Australia from November 2022 until April 2023.
From 2020 until late 2021, Waters' solo exhibition, Domestic Arts, toured South Australian regional galleries with Country Arts SA (presented in partnership with ACE Open). This exhibition was developed from being the 2017 recipient of the inaugural ACE Open South Australian artist commission. 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, Ararat Regional Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Powerhouse and private collections nationwide. Waters is a studio member of Central Studios, lecturer at Adelaide Central School of Art, and is represented by Hugo Michell Gallery.
CV
Education
2018 | PhD, School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia |
2006 | Master of Arts in Arts History, Adelaide University |
2000 | Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class Honours), University of South Australia |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 | Sera Waters: Hugo Michell Gallery, Sydney Contemporary 2023, Sydney NSW |
2022 | Future Traditions, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA |
2021 | Familiar Activism: Truth-Telling, Noticeboard United, Uffington, Lincolnshire UK |
Specks, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
2020 | Domestic Arts, touring 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 WA, 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 |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 | 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 2022: We, on the Rising Wave, Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan, South Korea |
Free/State, 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA | |
A Tangled Bank, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith NSW | |
Text Tile, Caves Gallery, Melbourne Vic | |
2021 | Eucalyptusdom, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (Powerhouse), Sydney NSW |
Embroidery: Oppression to Expression, The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide SA | |
Weaving Futures, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne Vic | |
Drawn Thread, artisan, Brisbane Qld | |
We Wish to Communicate HOPE: SA Artists for Climate Action, Noticeboard United, Uffington, Lincolnshire UK | |
2020 | The Partnershipping Project, curator: Pat Hoffie, Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier SA (touring to Bernie, Tas) |
Make the World Again, curator: Kevin Murray online: maketheworldagain.net | |
Drastic Fabric, Adelaide Central School of Art Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
2019 | Ramsay Art Prize 2019, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA |
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 |
The Great Suffragist Dirigible, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide SA | |
Craft Anonymous, curated by Polly Dance, touring regional SA | |
2016 | Sappers and Shrapnel, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA |
Illusions of History, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
Fleurieu Art Prize, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide SA | |
15 Artists 2016, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Redcliffe, Qld | |
2015 | Skin Off Our Time, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide SA |
Slipstitch, Ararat Regional Gallery (and touring Vic and NSW until 2017) | |
Mythology of my Land, .M Contemporary, Woollahra NSW | |
Craft Anonymous, curator: Polly Dance, Adelaide Town Hall (touring regional SA 2016-2018), SA | |
2014 | 135th Meridian East, aeaf, Adelaide SA |
Art House: the local ghost laboratory, Stall 61, Adelaide Central Markets, Adelaide SA | |
2013 | Life, Stitching, Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier SA |
Crystal Palace, Flinders University Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
Beyoncé is a feminist, Fontanelle Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
See Unseen, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide SA | |
2012 | Nadlewerk, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany |
Objectified, SASA Gallery, curator: Karen Paris, Adelaide SA | |
...build me a city, AEAF, curated by Vivonne Thwaites, Adelaide SA | |
2011 | Sensorial Loop, Tamworth Textile Triennial, curated by Patrick Snelling, Tamworth, NSW (+ touring) |
Imagining Interiors, curated by Wendy Walker, Jam Factory, Adelaide, SA | |
Home Stories, Adelaide Central Gallery + Migration Museum, curated by Vivonne Thwaites, Adelaide SA | |
2009 | Talente 2009, International Trade Fair, Munich, Germany |
SELECTED GRANTS, AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
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 | Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups funding, Australia Council for the Arts |
2018 | Winner of The Hill Smith Gallery/UniSA Postgraduate Award, Helpmann Graduate Exhibition 2018. |
2016 | Winner of Heysen Prize for Landscape 2016 |
2016 | Australian Tapestry Workshop residency, Melbourne |
2016 | Scholarship to attend Textile Society of America Symposium, Savannah, Georgia, USA |
2015 | Hawke EU Centre Travel Bursary: Mnemonics: Memory and Materialism workshop, King’s College, London |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 | 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 |
2020 | Sarah McEwan, 'Remembering and reckoning with the past: time travel in rural South AUstralia', catalogue essay to accompany Sera Waters: Domestic Arts, Country Arts SA touring exhibition |
2018 | Sheridan Coleman, ‘Sera Waters unpicks the long stitches of Australian History ‘, Art Guide Australia (online: https://artguide.com.au/sera-waters-unpicks-the-long-stitches-of-australian-history), October 2018. |
2017 | Miriam Kelly, ‘Sera Waters: Domestic Arts’, Artlink, Issue 37:4, December, pp. 48-55. https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4643/sera-waters-domestic-arts/ |
2017 | Interview with Sarah Kanowski, ‘Sera Waters’ Ghostly Embroideries’, Friday 21 July 2017, Radio National |
2017 | John McDonald, ‘Sappers and Shrapnel’, Sydney Morning Herald, January 13, http://johnmcdonald.net.au/2017/sappers-and-shrapnel/ |
2017 | Jane Llewellyn, ‘Sera Waters celebrates the Domestic Arts’, The Adelaide Review, July 21 2018, https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/arts/visual-arts/sera-waters-celebrates-domestic-arts/ |
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS & WORKSHOPS
2020 | Visiting Academic at RCA Doctoral Training Program, September 14, Royal College of Art, London UK |
2018 | Workshop leader: embroidery, ‘Creating out of place’ winter school, J. M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide, Oratunga, South Australia, July 5-10. |
COLLECTIONS
Powerhouse Collection | |
The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art: University of Western Australia | |
Art Gallery of South Australia | |
Ararat Regional Gallery | |
Private Collections across Australia |