IN AUGUST 2018 DURRMU ARTS ABORIGINAL CORPORATION LAUNCHED THE MARRGU RESIDENCY PROGRAM, A UNIQUE, INDIGENOUS-LED ARTISTIC INITIATIVE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PEPPIMENARTI COMMUNITY.

Marrgu offers an exceptional opportunity for artists and creative practitioners to engage with the community in a valuable cultural exchange. This residency program encourages knowledge sharing and meaningful relationship building between remote and urban communities, local and international artists, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural practices. The word ‘Marrgu,’ in fact, means ‘knowledge sharing’ as well as ‘new start’ in Peppimenarti's Tyemirri language—a concept that underpins what this once-in-a-lifetime program is all about! The activities of Marrgu grew out of the desire of Regina Pilawuk Wilson (Durrmu Arts’ Cultural Director and senior artist) to create a space where artists, curators, researchers and other art practitioners can come together to learn, and unlearn, about each other’s mutual histories, stories and practices. Marrgu has since developed through different projects and it continues to expand under Regina’s vision and the community’s support. Participation in the Marrgu Residency Program is generally run by invitation. Guests will spend time in Peppimenarti, guided by Regina and her fellow artists at the Durrmu Arts Centre. Any open calls for application to upcoming rounds of the residency is published online via Durrmu's website and social media. To get in touch with questions or for more information about the Marrgu Residency Program please email info@durrmuarts.com.au We look forward to hearing from you! 

2018

Our first Marrgu resident was Sydney based visual artist and Professor at UNSW Art & Design—Izabela Pluta. Pluta is a Polish born, Australian artist whose practice focuses on the misalignment between spatial and temporal experiences and states of displacement. Her creative process relies on immersing herself in specific locations to explore how place is manifested, and how we form relationships with that which remains. 

Izabela was invited to live and work in Peppimenarti alongside our amazing artists and community leaders. Arriving in August, Izabela (joined by her family) participated in daily life and learning for ten days as if a part of the community. 

2019

The second iteration of the program took place in 2019, when Marrgu became one of the hosts of a cross-cultural exchange project conducted through artist residencies, two exhibitions and public talks across Sicily (Italy), Gippsland and Peppimenarti (Australia). The project unfolded in three stages and involved Sicilian artist Giuseppe Lana, Gunai and Monero Nations artist Steaphan Paton and Durrmu’s Cultural Director, Regina Pilawuk Wilson. In July 2019, Regina and her granddaughter Xena travelled to Sicily for a residency supported by Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, FARM Cultural Park, Favara, and Museo Palazzo RISO, Palermo. After a group show at Fondazione Brodbeck, which signed the beginning of the project, Regina was invited to share her story and practice through artist talks at the three institutions, and to visit Sicilian cultural landmarks, art organizations and artists’ studios. The second part of the exchange saw Giuseppe travelling to Gippsland, in a tour led by Steaphan across heritage sites belonging to the Gunaikurnai people (the Knob Reserve in Stratford and Sales Commons) and local art institutions (Latrobe Regional Gallery and Gippsland Art Gallery). The group finally met in Peppimenarti a few weeks later. Regina welcomed her guests with a ceremony attended by the whole community, spending the following ten days showing them around her Country and inviting them to partake in various activities organised by the Art Centre. The residency ended with two artist talks at the Italian Institutes of Culture of Sydney and Melbourne, where the participants shared their experience with the Italian community of Australia, and a collective exhibition at Museo Italiano, Melbourne, which displayed works by the three artists and a documentary film on the exchange entitled Residency, Marrgu, Residenza by Timothy Hillier. The goal of this project was to establish a dialogue across different art practices, organizations and communities located within an expanded understanding of South. It was conceived and curated by Miriam La Rosa (Sicilian, Melbourne-based curator) in the context of her PhD at the University of Melbourne—which looks at the relationship between host and guest in the artist residency—and developed in collaboration with Kade McDonald (Executive Director of Durrmu Arts and CEO of Agency Projects, Melbourne) with the support of the following organizations: Australia Council for the Arts; Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation; Coasit/Museo Italiano, Melbourne; and Italian Institutes of Culture, Sydney and Melbourne. Further partners included: the University of Melbourne; Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania; FARM Cultural Park, Favara; and Museo Palazzo RISO, Palermo. In these critical times, where concerns on global mobility and artistic production are expanding and geographical borders narrowing, this work cements the importance of a cross-cultural collaboration achieved through artistic exchange, where outcomes are not short-lived material products but long-term human relationships. 

2020

Following the success of the 2018 and 2019 residencies, and with the onset of COVID-19, Marrgu has migrated online. The current iteration of the program sees Regina working with Yindjibarndi artist Katie West and Malaysian-born, Dja Dja Wurrung country-based artist Fayen d’Evie. Borderless is a project curated by Miriam La Rosa and supported by Agency Projects and the Australia Council for the Arts. It uses digital technologies to establish and maintain a connection between the three participants, while emphasizing the physical spaces they inhabit.