IN a major coup for Perth, the first solo exhibition by acclaimed WA artist Stormie Mills will be held at The Art Gallery of Western Australia.
A defining figure in Australian street art, Mills has spent four decades shaping the visual language of contemporary urban culture.
This landmark exhibition, All the secrets are buried between the oceans and the mountains, presents a selection of works from across his career alongside a new body of work reflecting his global movements, personal history, and the encounters that have informed his distinctive practice since he first began painting in 1984.
Through his sustained practice, Mills has played a pivotal role in advancing street art as a recognised contemporary art form, helping shift public perception from underground graffiti to a respected and influential movement.
His works explore themes of connection, isolation, tenderness, resilience and the human condition. Their quiet vulnerability and hope have resonated with audiences across cultures and continents.
“Stormie Mills has played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of Australian street art,” said Colin Walker, director of AGWA.
“This exhibition recognises not only his artistic contribution, but the emotional depth and humanity embedded in his work.”
All the secrets are buried between the oceans and the mountains brings together a significant body of works that reflect Mills’ desire to connect intimately with others through painting, through storytelling, and through shared experience.
The exhibition features two monumental 12-metre long paintings, one referencing the oceans and the other the mountains. These vast landscapes place Mills’ subjects in dialogue with elemental, often extreme environments, highlighting the tension between vulnerability and endurance.
“The exhibition reflects Mills’ interest in anonymity and hidden histories—the quiet stories embedded in places and carried through journeys—and foregrounds his drive to connect with painting, with people and with audiences,” said Colin Walker.
Expansive scenes of turbulent seas, towering peaks and void-like spaces reference places Mills has travelled through, while also echoing the duality of his lived experience. Mills’ early life was marked by instability.
He moved schools 11 times, living alone in New York at 16, and later squatting in an East Perth warehouse without water or electricity. Painting gave Mills a point of continuity, a steadying presence within an unpredictable world. These formative years underpin the emotional honesty and rawness that define his practice.
“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,” said Stormie Mills.
“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.”
Mills’ latest body of work also includes a series of portraits depicting friends, collaborators and influential figures from the international street art community, among them the legendary American artist Futura, renowned for his distinctive abstract approach to graffiti.
These artists have not only been longstanding peers and kindred spirits but have also shaped Mills’ own artistic language and way of moving through the world as an artist. Working under pseudonyms and concealed identities, each remains fundamentally unknowable beyond what they choose to reveal, reflecting the partial and negotiated nature of all relationships.
Although their works are generally created openly in public space for anyone to encounter, the artists themselves often remain anonymous, generating a tension between visibility and concealment, generosity and secrecy. The recurring motif of the skull operates as both a mask and a universal emblem, suggesting anonymity, mortality and the fragile traces individuals leave behind.
Mills’ career gained early recognition in Western Australia in 1994, when he became one of the first street artists invited to participate in an initiative responding directly to the State Government’s anti-graffiti messaging. At a time when street art was rarely acknowledged as a credible art form, Mills created a public mural at the Wellington Street freeway underpass—a work that remains in place today.
Mills held his first solo exhibition at Jack Sue, an artist-run space in West Perth, in 1999. The ten works on show sold out within minutes. Since then, his work has appeared in galleries, public spaces and private collections across Australia, the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.
He has exhibited in major cultural centres including London, Los Angeles, Berlin and New York, while sell-out solo exhibitions in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne have cemented his standing in the contemporary art world. He has recently been invited as a guest of honour at the 2027 Florence Biennale.
His commitment to community is equally significant. Mills’ work is included in the Western Australian education curriculum, and he regularly conducts workshops in prisons, youth centres and CARE schools.
“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,” said Mills.
All the secrets are buried between the oceans and the mountains is on August 1-November 8 at The Art Gallery of Western Australia.