Jennifer Mills: In the echo chamber

Jennifer Mills 
In the echo chamber

A survey exhibition spanning three decades of the artist’s creative practice. 

Encounter a compelling exploration of personal histories, memory and transitions in-between by award-winning Melbourne-based artist Jennifer Mills. 

Intimate, humorous and ambiguous, In the echo chamber is a major survey exhibition, tracing key moments of Mills’ multifaceted creative career. Including over 100 works spanning 1996 to the present day, the exhibition unites key bodies of work not previously seen together, from her celebrated depictions of animals and screen protagonists to suburban narratives and intimate family tales, including new and recent works created by Mills in collaboration with her son Darcy Luker. Above all, In the echo chamber celebrates Mills’ enduring dedication to a process and medium that provides endless possibilities to ignite our imaginations about the world around us. 

This exhibition will be accompanied by a publication and series of public and learning programs. 

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Jennifer Mills
In the echo chamber (double agent - 99/86) 2014
watercolour, ink and gouache on paper
43.0 x 52.0 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney}
 

_{Jennifer Mills
In the echo chamber (Broady West Primary 1975 - 3 likes, 16 comments) 2017
watercolour on paper
70.0 x 96.0 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney}
 

_{Jennifer Mills
Gladiators, Colosseum, Rome 2025
watercolour on paper
54.5 x 73.0 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney}
 

About the artist

Jennifer Mills has captivated audiences with her mastery of watercolour – a medium through which she explores the delicate interplay of presence and absence. Often beginning with found photographic imagery, she employs oil pastel, scissors, or physical erasure to conceal, remove, or interrupt elements within the image. By disrupting the original narrative, Mills invites new readings, creating visual spaces where memory, ambiguity, and silence take precedence.

Mills has exhibited regularly with Darren Knight Gallery since 1997. She is currently a finalist in the Dobell Drawing Prize, was a finalist in the Paul Guest Drawing Prize at Bendigo Art Gallery in 2024 and has been a regular finalist in the Geelong Art Prize, Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award, Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize, Jacaranda Art Prize and Mornington Peninsula National Works on Paper Prize.

In 2018 she won the Splash: McClelland Contemporary Watercolour Award. In 2012 she was included in Contemporary Australia: Women, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions including Contemporary Australian Drawings 1, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2010), Magnetic Islands, RMIT Project Space / Spare Room, Melbourne, Australia (2010), Darwin’s bastards, Verge Gallery, University of Sydney, Australia (2009), All in an afternoon, Monash University Faculty Gallery, Melbourne (2007); Polar mark, RMIT Project Space / Spare Room, Melbourne (2007); Strange beauty, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne (2007); and Getting on Mother’s Nerves, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin, Ireland (2006).
 

_{Jennifer Mills & Darcy Luker
2 Harveys break time 2025
watercolour and pencil on paper
42.0 x 54.0 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney}