Everyday Mysticism is an interdisciplinary collaboration, visual artists and sometimes performers, Grace Dewar and Sarah Lewis (Dolphin Milk). Hosted by Next Door ARI, Surfers Paradise (20-29 April 2023) Dolphin Milk invite magic and mysticism into everyday situations. Their multi-dimensional and poly-temporal research reorganises the everyday as *potent gifts*, referencing spiritual consumerism and collective mythologies in Western culture. The work engages the familiar as an attempt to spark imagination and maintain curiosity with the world. Dolphin Milk provokes and inhabits the *super magic* of the unknown. 

Everyday Mysticism was developed over a month-long residency exploring the charged energy found at the Tugun Triangle; a speculative mythology of times zones in flux. This project takes place on the unceded lands of the Yugambeh and Mibiny language region (Gold Coast, Australia). Dolphin Milk acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty and their continuous care for Country.

Exhibition essay by Meg Stosis

Excerpt: “The dolphin is the logo for Sea World, the amusement cum marine park. It could also maybe be thought of as a logo for the “Gold Coast” in general, the (quasi-)city that contains Sea World. Dolphin - a flashy, slippery icon.

Flashy, slippery cities seem like strange places for artists to take root. That’s not true. But it is a genuine perception when it comes to the Gold Coast. We know that “Porpoise Spit” is not a place where outsiders thrive. Or where anyone thrives, if 1994 smash hit and culturally iconic film “Muriel’s Wedding” is anything to go by. “Porpoise Spit” is the fictionalised version of the area of the Gold Coast in which I currently live.”

🐬

Dolphin Milk is a newly formed and undefined feminist experience. Yugambeh and Mibiny language region (Gold Coast) based artists, Sarah Lewis and Grace Dewar use experimental sound, installation, performance, video and social practice to engage with the savagely benign. Their collaborative projects assemble and reassemble everyday, contemporary culture as a way to understand and misunderstand their surroundings.​​​​​​​

Photography by Landen Callander