Historical information

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 in the 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.

These two works by Sera Waters draw on myths, histories, and narratives of the Australian bush and interior, weaving together research into explorers, family stories, popular culture, and folklore. Teeth and wild mouths become portals into different times and experiences: our colonial past, fictional bush tales, and lived encounters with a harsh, unpredictable land.

Hand-embroidered and embellished with time-intensive techniques once linked to domestic craft, the works embody both fragility and ferocity. Delicate yet unsettling, these works reflect on survival, risk, and endurance, transforming personal and collective histories into strange offerings that are humorous, dark, and deeply human.