All the secrets are buried between the oceans and the mountains
I started with the idea of secrets. For many years I worked on found objects, including drawers that had been thrown away. These were the places that I thought people would hide secrets. Then I started thinking about how we hold secrets, within the body. This links the idea of a skull as a commonality we all share. Although I believe that secrets manifest in the body, in the way we can move or hold ourselves, I wanted people to think more about their own secrets and about how they feel about what it is they hide and hold away from everyone else.
I know what it’s like to come from a difficult background. Art gave me something to hold onto. I want people, especially those doing it tough, to know that no matter where you are in life, there is always hope.
Stormie Mills
Artist
Stormie Mills. Image courtesy of the artist. © Stormie Mills. Photo: Frances Andrijich.
About Stormie Mills
Stormie Mills (born 1969) is a street/visual artist who splits his time between Venice, Italy and Perth, Western Australia, and is widely regarded as one of Australia’s pioneering street artists.
Born in Colwyn Bay, a coastal town in northern Wales (UK), Stormie Mills moved to Perth with his parents and two brothers when he was three. In 1984 Mills discovered spray-painting and painting in the streets, and at 16 years of age he travelled back to Wales to live with his grandmother before visiting New York in 1986.
Stormie Mills is best known for his whimsical, thought-provoking characters created from a restricted colour palette of black, white, grey and silver. As his practice developed, Stormie’s iconic characters found their way into the galleries, streets and homes of collectors around Australia and the world.
His work draws on a deep sense of isolation and yet each character seems to carry a message of hope. These opposing elements in Stormie’s practice imbue his characters with a palpable presence and humanity capturing the tenderness of the human condition that people connect with. Testament to this is the significant expansion of Stormie’s collector base globally and sell out shows in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
His whimsical works are represented in galleries around Australia and Stormie’s private and public commissions light up streetscapes across the globe from Perth to the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. He has been invited to participate in some of the world’s most prestigious street art festivals and completed countless private and public art commissions. Most recently he was invited to create the first sanctioned street art mural as part of the prestigious Florence Biennale.
