Hugo Michell Gallery

ARTIST TALK & LAST DAY Please join us today for an Artist Talk with Sera Waters, Saturday 16th May from 2pm. Sera will speak about her current exhibition ‘Collared & Cuffed’. About this body of work, Sera shares: “Each of these works, informed by a feminist understanding of textile practices, has documentation as its impetus; documenting what is happening, what happened, and valuing how archival records (like the family letters) have been cared for, for future generations to learn from.” Today is the last day to visit our current exhibitions, Sera Waters’ ‘Collared & Cuffed’ and Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’. 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. Pictured: Sera Waters, Parts of past portents: head shot, 2025, various repurposed wools, found and handmade beads, 52 x 50 cm irreg. Photography by Grant Hancock cc: @serawaters #SeraWaters #artisttalk @justondark #SallyBourke

NOW SHOWING Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ is now showing at Hugo Michell Gallery. An obsessive maker, Bourke has a rigorous approach to her day-to-day studio practice. These habitual processes are evident in her paintings which often depict an image archive reconciling experiences from the past. Though abstract, Bourke’s paintings are curiously recognisable, a celebration of personal encounter and memory. Enquiries to [email protected] 📷 @samrophoto Pictured: Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ at Hugo Michell Gallery, 2026 cc: @justondark #SallyBourke #hugomichellgallery #abstractportrait #australianpainting #contemporarypainting #imaghostimgone

NOW SHOWING Sera Waters’ exhibition ‘Collared & Cuffed’ is now showing at Hugo Michell Gallery. About this particular work, Sera writes: “Mother’s Collection is another exploration into teeth and inheritances, and bodily bits as carriers shaped by past humans and human events. These larger than life teeth, modeled on my children’s lost teeth (much to their horror), are strung up on a gummy colored hand-dyed rope, a knotty tangle.” Enquiries to [email protected] Pictured: Sera Waters’, Mother’s collection, 2026, hand dyed rope and string, modelling clay, varnish 53 x 20 cm. Photography by Grant Hancock cc: @serawaters #SeraWaters #textileart #contemporarytextiles #contemporarytextileart

ARTIST NEWS Zaachariaha Fielding and Richard Lewer are currently exhibiting in ‘Mind Maps’ at Adelaide Central Gallery, which is showing until the end of this week. About this exhibition, curator Andrew Purvis writes: “The map is more than a neutral instrument of navigation, it is also a powerful implement of political control, superimposing otherwise invisible borders and boundaries onto the landscape. By contrast, the exhibition Mind Maps is an atlas of internal and interpersonal topographies. The artists in this exhibition use found maps and cartographic processes to explore routes between family and community, traverse realms of imagination, and trace the familiar paths of personal anxieties.” Featuring work by Roy Ananda, Zaachariaha Fielding, Richard Lewer, Debbie Pryor and Laura Wills, ‘Mind Maps’ is showing at Adelaide Central Gallery until 15 May. Pictured: ‘Mind Maps’ at Adelaide Central Gallery, 2026. Photography by Sam Roberts cc: @richard_lewer zaachariahafielding.art @adelaidecentralschoolofart @central.curator

ARTIST NEWS Ildiko Kovacs and Julia Robinson are showing in the upcoming exhibition ‘RE:BORN’ at Artbank as part of Melbourne Design Week for 2026. Presented as a collaboration between Romance Was Born and Cultivated, and supported by Artbank, studio x us, Cult Design and TSAR Carpets, ‘RE:BORN’ weaves fashion, art and design into a richly layered tapestry of surprise and delight. This exhibition will be open from 15 May to 23 May at Melbourne Projects Space, Artbank Melbourne. Pictured L-R: Ildiko Kovacs, Roll (Detail), 2013, monotype, 127 x 91.5 cm; Julia Robinson, Rutting Creature I, 2015, flywire, fibreglass, fabric, thread, wire, foam padding, timber, buttons, plaster, fixings, 200 x 90 x 60 cm cc: @gyongyi_ildiko_kovacs @juliarobinsonart @artbank @romancewasborn @cultivated_au @studioxus @cultdesignau

ARTIST TALK Please join us for an Artist Talk with Sera Waters on Saturday 16th May from 2pm. Sera will speak about her current exhibition ‘Collared & Cuffed’. About this body of work, Sera shares: “My artworks are made from labouring, working, fretting, and expelling energies that come up incredibly short against the suffering of others and ecologies. I’ve learned that in my family this is a multi-generational tactic to reckon with all that happens. In my times, deliberate hand-making draws upon this matrilineal activist tactic to rally against Capitalist greed and power which has always caused damage upon bodies of all kinds. Each of these works, informed by a feminist understanding of textile practices, has documentation as its impetus; documenting what is happening, what happened, and valuing how archival records (like the family letters) have been cared for, for future generations to learn from.” This will be the last day to visit our current exhibitions, Sera Waters’ ‘Collared & Cuffed’ and Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’. 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. Pictured: Sera Waters in the studio, 2023. Photography by Aubrey Jonsson for InDaily. cc: @serawaters #SeraWaters #artisttalk @justondark #SallyBourke

ONLINE SHOP FEATURE We have copies of Richard Lewer’s ‘Richard’s Disasters: a true story’ limited edition catalogues currently available through the Hugo Michell Gallery online shop. Recalling some of the artist’s most personal experiences, this catalogue chronicles these works and the stories which accompany them. On this body of work Lewer says, “I have always used storytelling in my work to reach out to or connect people, observing and mirroring the human condition. I play with the idea of what is considered private and put that into public space. Everyone has milestones, tragedies, or significant events that have shaped them. Here, I’m using myself as a tool to shine a light on a few of these stories. I have had so many experiences – some of them my first memories, some deeply personal and private – that are unfortunate, embarrassing, humorous, absurd, tragic, frightening, unbelievable, or plain odd. Traumatic events like these often get buried out of sight, but I think it’s important to let down your guard, to be exposed, to be vulnerable. Sharing them in the work often means that people reach out to me, as they have had similar experiences. We so very rarely get to see each other’s vulnerabilities, but we all have burdens that we carry.” This is a soft cover limited edition of 100, signed by the artist, printed by Press Print; 81 pages, soft cover, 31 x 31 cm; English. /collections/shop-richard-lewer/products/richard-lewer-richards-disasters-a-true-story-publication --- The Hugo Michell Gallery Online Shop provides accessibility and insight into our artists and exhibition program; through publications, merchandise and small artworks.

NOW SHOWING Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ is now showing at Hugo Michell Gallery. ‘ I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ brings together a suite of beguiling, idiosyncratic portraits. Built from expressive brushwork, abstracted forms and a kaleidoscope of colour, the works hover between presence and disappearance. Enquiries to [email protected] Pictured: Selected work from Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ at Hugo Michell Gallery, 2026 cc: @justondark #SallyBourke #hugomichellgallery #abstractportrait #australianpainting #contemporarypainting #imaghostimgone

ONLINE SHOP FEATURE A limited number of Sera Waters’ tea towels, featuring an image her ‘Tragic Pairings – Lines of Power’ artwork, are available to purchase through the Hugo Michell Gallery online shop. About this artwork, Sera shares: “Many of my stitchings come from sights encountered on local walks: in this work an entwining of two magpies, sadly electrocuted together. I’m compelled to record and stitch these tragedies, to honour the individual birds, as lost family members in their tiding. Every stitch, every cross, is a moment to acknowledge them. Since finishing these works two more magpies have fallen near our house…. Sad to say there will be more works in this ongoing series.” This limited edition tea towel is printed on 'Deluxe Belgium Linen', and measures approximately 62 x 41.5 cm. Sera Waters' latest exhibition 'Collared & Cuffed' is showing at Hugo Michell Gallery until 16th May 2026. cc: @serawaters #SeraWaters #magpies #textileart #linenteatowel

ARTIST NEWS We are so thrilled to share that Richard Lewer has been announced as the winner of the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 2026! A six-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, Richard’s winning painting depicts Iluwanti Ken, a Pitjantjatjara Elder, senior artist and ngangkari (traditional healer). She is a finalist in this year’s Wynne Prize. ‘I spent time with Iluwanti at Tjala Arts in Amata, in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands of South Australia. Although we have known one another for several years through shared exhibitions, being on Country together deepened my understanding of her presence and the responsibilities she carries,’ says Richard Lewer. ‘Iluwanti paints with an urgency I recognise. Her work depicts the walawuru tjukurpa, the story of the eagles. Birds appear in her drawings, paintings and ceramics as teachers of care, protection, provision and resilience, particularly for women and children. These lessons shaped how I approached this portrait. I wanted to convey her strength and attentiveness, and reflect the way she watches over others. ‘In person, Iluwanti is a small woman, but she carries immense, quiet authority. I painted her life size, so her presence meets the viewer directly. The yellow ochre background holds the intensity of the heat and light we were working in. She loves bright clothing, which feels inseparable from her spirit, and the traces of paint on her arm acknowledge her as a working artist, as if she has just stepped out of the studio.’ We congratulate Richard and Iluwanti! An exhibition of finalist artworks will be presented from 9 May to 16 August 2026 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Pictured: Richard Lewer with his painting; Iluwanti Ken, 2026, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 198 x 198 cm cc: @richard_lewer @artgalleryofnsw #ArchibaldPrize2026 #archibaldprizewinner #artprizewinner

ARTIST NEWS We’re delighted that Sam Gold has been announced as a finalist in the The Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize with their work ‘At the edge they meet’. The Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize is an established, non-acquisitive Australian award for landscape-themed 2D and 3D art, based in McLaren Vale, South Australia. Held every two years, the 2026 event runs from June 5 to July 5 at Fleurieu Arthouse, offering a $20,000 top prize for works exploring ‘A Sense of Place’. Pictured: Sam Gold, At the edge they meet (part a & b), 2025, porcelain, enamel, megapoxy and polymer compound, 81 x 28 x 23 cm; porcelain, cobalt oxide, and gold enamel, 72 x 18 x 21 cm. Photography by Connor Patterson cc: @s.amgol.d @fleurieu_art_prize @fleurieuarthouse #SamGold #fleurieuartprize #fleurieubiennial #artprize

NOW SHOWING Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ is now showing at Hugo Michell Gallery. Sally draws on an archive of personal memory and internal experience to create characters that feel both familiar and strange. Enquiries to [email protected] 📷 @samrophoto Pictured: Sally Bourke’s ‘I’m a ghost, I’m gone’ at Hugo Michell Gallery, 2026 cc: @justondark #SallyBourke #hugomichellgallery #abstractportrait #australianpainting #contemporarypainting #imaghostimgone