I acknowledge the Kaurna and Bunganditj people, upon whose Country I live and research, and hold deep respect to elders past, present and emerging.

About

 

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 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.

Things Happened

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

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

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

A Tangled Bank, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith

Text Tile, Caves Gallery, Melbourne

2021

Eucalyptusdom, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (Powerhouse), Sydney

Embroidery: Oppression to Expression, The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide

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

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