Alexandra Mills is a Sydney-based artist working from the city’s northern beaches. A graduate of the National Art School, her practice is largely research-based, referencing archives, museum collections, historic sites and native vegetation.

Alexandra majored in sculpture at art school, with a strong focus on drawing alongside it. Her practice now often combines 2D and 3D methods and sensibilities, working across gouache, oil, paper, textiles and sculpture.

Her work is usually based on places, people or natural phenomena that are ephemeral or no longer here. She is interested in capturing something that has gone unnoticed or disappeared, but still recalls a sensation or memory.

Where possible, Alexandra uses sustainable, reused or rescued materials in both her 2D and 3D work. Since graduating, her work has been acquired by the National Art School for its permanent collection, and she has been awarded several studio residencies. Her work has been included in finalist exhibitions including the Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize and the Hawkesbury Art Prize, as well as shows with Australian Galleries in Melbourne and Defiance Gallery in Sydney.

Visually, Shade is about the play of shadow in various places – in gardens, through windows, after a rainstorm, beneath trees or cliffs, or on water. In those same places, shadows can also become the protective shade that all living things need from time to time.

Alexandra has tried to capture the visual contrast between shade and sunshine, as well as the sense of relief and relaxation found in shaded places on hot days.

The collection was inspired by a minor flood in her studio, which forced Alexandra to review a lot of work she had been holding there. She found that over the past 10 years, shade and shadow had been a persistent language across different media and subject matter.

“As the land loses more vegetation to building, the shade we need for respite seems to be in short supply,” Alexandra says. “I wanted to celebrate it.”

The work in Shade has been made over a long period of time and represents a broad range of Alexandra’s practice, including gouache, oil, paper and textiles. At its heart, the show is about the importance of shade, and the images created by shadows.

Shade is showing at Tyger Gallery from Saturday 20 June to Monday 29 June 2026.

You can see the show in person during our regular gallery hours:

Saturday 10am–2pm
Sunday 10am–2pm
Monday 10am–2pm

Tyger Gallery is located in Yass Memorial Hall, 84 Comur Street, Yass NSW.

Join us at Tyger Gallery for a relaxed Meet the Artist session with Alexandra Mills on Saturday 27 June, from 12–3pm.

This is a lovely chance to meet Alexandra, hear more about the ideas and materials behind Shade, and spend time with the work in person.

The session is free and everyone is welcome. Drop in any time between 12pm and 3pm.