I Have To Try

Today is my 44th birthday. I don’t feel sad, and I don’t feel old — I’ve just become acutely aware of the fact that in six years I’ll be 50, and even next year I’ll be 45, which feels like a small but significant milestone in itself.

Initially, I planned to have a birthday dinner like I did last year, but I decided against it. Instead, Maureen came over, and along with Mum, we spent the day visiting two SALA exhibitions nearby and then went for lunch at Ballaboosta.

The first was at the Hugo Michell Gallery on Portrush Road. There were two exhibitions showing at the gallery, but the main one was by Aboriginal artist Zaachariaha Fielding, titled Ngangkali.

Zaachariaha Fielding, born around 1991, is a South Australian artist and musician, deeply rooted in his Aboriginal heritage. He was raised in Port Augusta before moving back to the Mimili community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. He’s the oldest of nine children in a family rich with artistic talent — his father, Robert Fielding, is also a celebrated artist.

Zaachariaha first gained prominence as the vocalist in the electronic-soul duo Electric Fields, known for their passionate blending of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages with modern soundscapes. I’d actually heard of Electric Fields before because one of my lecturers at Adelaide Uni, when I was studying the UPP, was involved with them.

I loved Zaachariaha’s artwork. You can see an untitled piece below.

This piece is acrylic on linen and was listed for $17,500. Three other paintings that really stood out to me are shown below — they’re also untitled, but each one carries its own incredible energy and presence.

These three are also acrylic on linen and are priced at $7,000 each. What I loved most about Zaachariaha’s work is that, at first glance, the paintings appear simply as beautiful works of art — layered, striking, and full of movement. But when you look more closely, you notice something unexpected: in some of the pieces, and maybe even all of them, you can see words subtly written into the body of the works, almost like hidden messages woven into the paint.

The other exhibition on display at the Hugo Michell Gallery for SALA was a smaller one titled World Expo 2025 by Daniel Emma. Daniel Emma is a South Australian design studio founded by Daniel To and Emma Aiston in 2008. The duo met while studying Industrial Design at the University of South Australia and built their careers through a shared sense of curiosity and creativity.

After gaining experience in London studios — including working with Marc Newson, Thorsten Van Elten, and Committee — they returned to Adelaide to launch their own practice. Today, Daniel Emma creates everything from small-scale desk objects to immersive installations, always striving to make the unexpected from simple forms.

Below is a row of objects they exhibited, which included:
Beach Stack (on plate) $400, Watermelon Chunk (on plate) $400, Bunch-A-Grapes (on plate) $400, and Tofu Bell With Cherry (on plate) $400.

These objects were made using a combination of resin, solid timber, acrylic, aluminium, bell, and paint.

Those were the two main exhibitions, but there was also a corridor at the back of the gallery featuring what looked like a range of different artworks by various artists. Below are two pieces that especially caught my attention.

The details of this piece are: Feminist Fan #1 (PUSSY : Casey at the Melbourne Pussy Riot Protest 2012), 2015 hand knitted wool and acrylic yarns 38.5 x 51 cm $5000. I think this is a real shout out to girl power. It’s simple, a little bit vulgar, but I really love it.

The second piece on the walls of the corridor was a depiction of packets of cigarettes. I don’t love or glamorise cigarettes, but there’s something about them artistically that fascinates me. They carry a kind of seediness — an undercurrent of grit and late night chaos — the same energy you find in poker machines and neon lights. It’s that mix of allure and decay, something both cheap and strangely beautiful at the same time.

The details of this piece are: Marc Etherington, Cigarette Packs 2023, Acrylic on hand carved wood 9x5.5 x 2cm irreg. $450 each.

I know Mum and Maureen loved the artwork inside the Hugo Michell Gallery as much as I did. After we finished there, we headed to the home studio of glass artist Nick Mount.

Nick Mount is an acclaimed Australian glass artist based in Adelaide, celebrated as one of the pioneers of contemporary studio glass in the country. His work blends Venetian glassmaking traditions with playful, sculptural forms, creating pieces that are both technically masterful and visually striking. Over his decades-long career, he has exhibited internationally, mentored countless emerging artists, and his work is held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

His house and studio are in Leabrook, and on the way there, Mum stopped out the front of the old house she owned when she was much younger than I am now. Mum decided to wait in the car while Maureen and I went in to look at Nick’s work.

I loved visiting his studio. He doesn’t have a hot shop at his house, but he has all the cold-working equipment and an incredible collection of his pieces displayed around the space. Out the back, he has a shed-like room filled with some of his more intricate and beautifully blown glasswork. You can see some of it below.

Nick was there while people wandered through, and he was really friendly and welcoming. He asked what we do for a living, first wanting to know if we were makers. I wanted to tell him that I’ve tried working with glass and that I’d love to continue, but it’s the kind of conversation I wouldn’t know how to navigate with a master like him, so instead, I just told him I was a student and changed the subject.

Maureen told him she was a nurse, and the two of them ended up deep in conversation about all the weird and wonderful things she has to deal with in her work.

He had his house open as well, and I absolutely loved it. If I ever own a house — or even just have full decorating rights — I would style it in the same vein as Nick Mount and his wife have done. The first thing I noticed when we walked into the kitchen was an Obama ’08 sign stuck above the door frame, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Nick’s wife was there too, and I told her about when Obama won the election in 2008, I had a cardboard cut-out of him and I took it around town with me, taking photos in different spots. Eventually, I left it on the windscreen of a very conservative friend of mine from the Young Liberals — which still makes me laugh.

Below are three photos I took with some friends, out and about with Obama.

Maureen and I then wandered through the house, taking in all the blown glass pieces, the quirky artwork on the walls, and the beautiful furniture scattered throughout the rooms. It felt like every corner had its own little story.

Below are two photos I took inside, showcasing some of Nick Mount’s incredible blown glasswork.

I was so glad we went to see Nick’s work. He is truly a master, but he’s also extremely unpretentious, which I found myself really drawn to. After we thanked him for letting us look through his studio and house, Maureen and I met Mum at the car, and we drove to Ballaboosta for a late lunch.

Below, you can get a sense of the vibe of the restaurant just after lunchtime.

We had such a nice lunch and chat. Mum loves Maureen, and we’re all very open with each other, so it was lovely to have that sense of familiarity. The other night when I was at Ballaboosta, I was introduced to their cauliflower dish, which is technically a side dish, but it’s so delicious. I don’t know what they do to it — whether it’s spices, a sauce, or some secret combination — but whatever it is, I had it again today, and I loved it. It was perfect for my birthday lunch.

After lunch, we dropped Maureen back at her house in town, and now we’re home. I don’t feel especially reflective, and I don’t have this sudden wave of motivation to go out and do something incredible just because another year has passed and time is ticking by. But I am glad we went to the two SALA exhibitions today because they made me think about myself and what I want to achieve artistically.

The first two projects I’m working on are my oaths. The most important is the oath book for the Chief Justice, which I’ve sent to Melbourne to be hand-bound. I’m using real leather, which I still feel a little conflicted about, but as I’ve said before, I want the very best for him. It’s costing me nearly $800, but it’s worth it — this will be my first piece of conceptual artwork.

The second oath project I’m working on involves the oaths from speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world. I collected them at the same time as the legal oaths, and I’m having them bound into a book, which I plan to gift to the current Speaker of the House of Assembly. He’s a friend of Mum’s. I’m sure he’s wonderful, but I don’t have the same sense of reverence for him that I have for the Chief Justice.

These two projects are my special personal passion projects. Once they’re complete, I want to focus on creating the kind of artwork I truly want to share with the world — not just with the people on the Table of Precedence. I want to work with glass, digital media, acrylic, neon, light, wood, and anything else I can get my hands on.

I don't know if I could really ever do something good in the arts, whether it be writing or visual arts. All I know is I have to try. I have to really try, because if I don't, in six years I'll be sitting here writing this blog, still full of ideas and inspiration, but with nothing to show for it. I've got something I want to say — I just need to work out how to say it.