2021 ARCHIVE LISTING
DAY 2: TALKING PICTURES
Fri 17 September 2021, 6:00-8:00pm This event has already taken place
The Braggs lecture theatre, The Braggs Building, The University of Adelaide, Victoria Drive, Adelaide, South Australia
Cost: FREE (bookings essential)
Adam Gillespie, Anthea Wright, Jana Hoffmann, Jessica Zeng, Lisa Vertudaches, Mitch Hearn, Owen Heitmann (also emcee), Rachel Ang (VIC) and Sarah Milne
Experience comics in a different way at Talking Pictures, where creators will combine art and performance for a multimedia storytelling event. The presenters will each perform a live reading accompanied by onscreen projections of their own art.
Meet our roster of presenters (alphabetically by surname) below! After reading about each of their credentials and experience, you are sure to want to see their interpretations of the Talking Pictures theme, which this year is simply ‘Food’.
Our diverse group of visual storytellers will bring you an evening of engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking readings, with Adelaide-based comic creator and Papercuts Comics Festival co-director Owen Heitmann as emcee.
This session will feature sign interpretation in Auslan, provided by Deaf Can Do.
There will be a short intermission halfway through the event, and after the readings we invite you to join us and the presenters for complimentary drinks and nibbles in The Braggs’ foyer.
To reserve your place at this event, please click here to book through Eventbrite.
Rachel Ang
Rachel is an artist and writer working on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne, Australia). Their work has been published by The New Yorker, The Washington Post and kuš! Rachel’s first book Swimsuit was published by Glom Press in 2018, and they were a contributor to the Eisner Award winning anthology, Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival in 2019. Their next book will be a collection of short stories, published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2024. Rachel still lives in their hometown, where they draw comics and work in Architecture. Rachel will be appearing remotely at Papercuts.
Adam Gillespie †
Adam is a prolific writer and artist, with nine of his comics in print (either self-published or through Amplified Press), as well as several more in progress or nearing completion. He also creates the webcomic Help! I’m A Projectionist!, drawing on his experience as a cinema worker. His work ranges from science fiction and fantasy through autobio to non-fiction, with a fine sense of graphic storytelling and often a dry sense of humour. Adam also provided illustrations for the role-playing game Skum of the Stars for Owlman Press.
Mitch Hearn †
Mitch is an Adelaide-based queer illustrator, comic book creator, and animator who works with anything from plasticine to pastels and paint. He runs claymation, comic, and manga workshops for schools, events, and councils across South Australia. His comics include Lizard Wizard and Bitch Witch and the Terrible Job Economy, and he appeared at Supanova 2019 as that year’s Adelaide recipient of The Banksia Project. His artwork has been exhibited at Carclew House and Greenlight Comics, and on stobie poles in the City of Marion area.
Owen Heitmann †
Papercuts Comics Festival co-director Owen is also a comics creator in his own right, whose work was first published nationally when he was in high school. His more recent comics include successfully Kickstarted black comedy The Inheritance, diary comic The Year That Was, and a work-in-progress coming-of-age graphic novel for middle grade readers. He workshopped the latter project at the Comic Art Workshop in Indonesia. Owen will be pulling double-duty at Talking Pictures as a presenter and also the evening’s emcee.
Jana Hoffmann †
Jana is the co-creator and artist of Heart of Millyera, a webcomic with a setting that is steampunk and yet proudly Australian; its prequel, The Many Adventures of Ida Blaker; and the minicomic Great Beasts, all of which have been brought to print through several successful crowdfunding campaigns. Jana has also worked with notable publisher Gestalt, illustrating Talgard and the Prophecy (to be published in Talgard, Tome 2). She is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for The Lonely Giant, a fantasy comic that will be her debut as both writer and artist.
Sarah Milne
Sarah is a writer who draws. Active in the Adelaide comics scene in the 2000s, Sarah self-published numerous minicomics (solo and in collaboration) and appeared at conventions nationally. They are the co-founder of the serial anthology Fist Full of Comics (with David Milne), and two-time winner of the Comikaze 24 hour comic challenge. Currently, they write romance and SFF under a secret pen name, and sometimes join forces with Owen Heitmann to create comics for national and international publishers. Sarah’s style has been described as ‘whimsically bitter’.
Lisa Vertudaches
Lisa is an independent illustrator and animator specialising in cute but emotionally impactful work. Her characters and narratives are often based on her own life experiences, but may appeal to those who constantly reflect on every mistake or misplaced word they’ve ever uttered. Lisa is represented by the Illustration Room and is currently working on projects with Scholastic & TED Education. She has previously collaborated with Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, Disney & Hallmark on a variety of different projects.
Anthea Wright
Anthea is a full-time freelance illustrator who has worked in comics, tabletop games and 2D animation. Previous clients include Monkeystack, Games with Teeth and collaboration with other independent creatives. She is primarily a digital artist, but also works in pencil and markers when the mood strikes. Creating work with fantasy themes, Anthea draws inspiration from pop culture like Dungeons & Dragons as well as classical mythology. She also seeks to visualise stories about topics such as mental health and sexual identity, drawing on her own experiences and those of people around her.
Jessica Zeng †
Jessica is an Adelaide-based illustrator in various media whose work under the name Ban-She tends to capture everyday activities, and turn the mundane into something to admire. Her subjects are often female, and explore feminist ideas and protests in an accessible and light-hearted way. She has been a regular fixture at Adelaide small press markets such as Zine Swap, Zine and Held, and the 2019 Papercuts Comics Festival market day, selling her zines (including Buttered Toast and Cats Cats Cats), prints, and other artistic creations.
† The artists whose names are marked with this symbol also have stalls at the Papercuts Market Day, where they will be selling their work.
Note: There have been some changes to the originally published list of presenters, due to changes in availability. The above list is correct and current as of 23 August.
Talking Pictures is presented in collaboration with the University of Adelaide Department of Media and the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice.
Talking Pictures is based on similar events held interstate under the name Read To Me, with the permission and cooperation of Read To Me co-creators Gabriel Clark and Fionn McCabe.