These filmic spaces become points of access into a world that is somewhat disjointed from language, a world that is felt and internalised, carried in the body, played out and recreated in present day events. A central mechanism in this work is the creation of a series of sculptural objects that slip in and out of roles – functioning at once as props, as sculptures, and as musical instruments that form the basis for the film score: a ‘spell making’ dress befit with numerous pockets, that house sculptures / percussion objects / relics; a silver necklace decorated with children’s teeth; percussion stands for various sculptures and percussion objects; shorthand poems; silk fabrics with film stills printed on them which act as veils and barriers throughout the installation. Many of these objects will be ‘performed’ as the score is restaged with percussionists in a live performance during the opening.

The Past is Singing in our Teeth plays with ideas include the repeating of history, the presence of linked signs, archetypes, place and the objects we carry alongside us throughout our lives. The interplay between what is lost and what remains, the repetition of certain behaviours, the seeking out of certain systems and themes become the visual language of the work. So, whilst the impetus for the work begins with the artist’s own biographical engagement with time and memory, the concepts expand outwards, inviting viewers to connect to the work through their own experiences and ideas. The work is quiet, refusing monumentality – instead framing a precarious and fragile movement through the world. Like a psychoanalytic investigation, the construction of the work becomes a tenuous relationship between the real and the unreal, what is known and what is not.
 

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts for the 2004 Perth International Arts Festival.Her work has been featured in various museums and biennales, including the 17th Biennale of Sydney; the Trafco Centre for Contemporary Art, Poland; Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai; Art Gallery of Western Australia; Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne; Perth Institute for Contemporary Art; John Curtin Gallery, Perth; Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth and the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.

Since 2002 she has undertaken residencies in Russia, London, Tokyo, Switzerland, Berlin, Sydney, China and Hong Kong. McMillan has been the recipient of numerous grants including more recently an International Development Grant from the British Council and Arts Council England; and in 2015 a New Work Grant from the Australia Council, which she also received in 2011 and 2009. In 2013 McMillan was awarded a Fellowship from the Department of Culture and the Arts (Western Australia) and a Mid-Career Fellowship in 2008.She has resided on the Board of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) based in Sydney and has worked as a Peer and an Advisor for the Australia Council for the Arts. Her PhD (2014) explored the capacity for Contemporary Art to unforget colonial histories. McMillan is a part-time Teaching Fellow at King’s College, London where she lectures on the Masters Program in the Department for Culture, Media and Creative Industries.

She is also an External Examiner for Brighton University, UK and has guest lectured at The Ruskin, Oxford University. McMillan has taught at Open University via Curtin University, Australia; Coventry University and the University of Creative Arts, Farnham. Her PhD is currently being developed into a book called ‘Contemporary Art & Unforgetting: Methodologies of Making in Post-settler Landscapes’, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018. She is also undertaking research into gender equality in the contemporary art world, which will also be published in 2018.Her work is held in private collections around the world, as well as in the Christoph Merian Collection, Basel; Soho House Collection, London; Art Gallery of Western Australia; Wesfarmers Arts Collection; KPMG; Murdoch University, Australia; University of Western Australia and Curtin University, Australia.

Louise Devenish is a Perth-based percussionist whose practice incorporates performance, directing, research and education. Her work with contemporary, world and interdisciplinary ensembles includes co-directing the percussion duo The Sound Collectors, directing Piñata Percussion, percussing for electro-acoustic sextet Decibel and curating the annual Day of Percussion, a full-day event exploring percussion via performances and workshops. Louise works regularly with Speak Percussion (Vic) as a percussionist and contributor to Sounds Unheard. She has also performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Synergy Percussion (NSW), Clocked Out Duo (Qld), redfishbluefish (USA) and was a core

member of Tetrafide Percussion (2004- 2010). Louise has performed throughout Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam. Highlights have included performances at the Nagoya and Shanghai World Expos, Percussive Arts Society International Convention (USA), Ojai Music Festival, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, Melbourne Festival, Tongyeong International Music Festival, and more. An advocate of Australian music, Louise has commissioned over 40 percussion works and has recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree researching the development of Australian contemporary percussion music, which culminated in the show Australian Music for One Percussionist. In 2012 she studied at the University of California San Diego with Steven Schick. Louise is Head of Percussion at the University of Western Australia School of Music, where she also teaches world music and musicology, and she is also a lecturer for the acting and music departments at WA Academy of Performing Arts. Her research is published in Musicology Australia, Resonate, Percussive Notes and PERCUSscene.