We are delighted to welcome you to the first show in our brand new Mill 2 Gallery!

Benjamin Sebastian (b. 1980, Cairns, Australia. Lives and works in London, UK) brings their new show to Mill 2 Gallery, after touring in Kent (CT20) and London (VSSL Studio). This show is their largest solo presentation in the UK to date, and we are thrilled to be the first to present the work up North.

In 2024, Benjamin underwent a three-week residency here at 1853 Studios, which marked the early stages of this exhibition's development. Their residency in Oldham was central to exploring the exhibition's themes, directly connecting to their father's journey from Oldham to Australia after the Second World War through the 'Ten Pound Pom' scheme. During the residency, they explored their Oldham heritage for the first time, creating site responsive works in our historic cotton mill. This residency built upon a previous residency undertaken in Australia, which linked these two parts of the artist’s heritage. The collection of works in this exhibition are the product of Benjamin’s exploration of heritage, (de)colonialism and identity.

“This predominantly new body of work by Benjamin Sebastian confronts their ancestral implication in violent structures of settler-colonialism, while holding space for a spiritually expansive understanding of our relationship to the world around us and the forces that shape it through multiple forms of coloniality. This exhibition reveals a visual language of stitch, pattern, symbolism and hybridity, developed to unravel complex personal and political histories...” - Jane Scarth

About Benjamin:

Benjamin Sebastian (1980 AUS/UK) is a trans-disciplinary visual artist and curator living in London (UK). Their work spans performance, sculpture, curation, video, text, installation, drawing & new media - rooted in processes of bricolage, assemblage, collage, ritual & DIY cultural production. Through harmonizing nonbinary perspectives, neurodivergent cognition and decolonial practice, Sebastian weaves nascent narratives into existence, offering alternative ways of remembering, being here-and-now, and charting pathways to futures yet formed. Find out more about their work -benjamin-sebastian.com

This exhibition contains sensitive work, viewer discretion is advised.

Holding The Shadow While Calling Back The Light