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MEDIA INVITE

PRESERVATION IS AN ACT OF POLITICAL WARFARE.

AN EXCHANGE ARTISTS RESIDENCY BETWEEN SICILY AND AUSTRALIA.

Exhibition and talks.

TALKS:

Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney: 3 October 2019, 6.15PM;

Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne: 10 October 2019, 6.30-8PM;

EXHIBITION OPENING:

CO.AS.IT., Melbourne: 12 November 2019, 6.30-8PM;

GUIDED TOURS:

CO.AS.IT., Melbourne: 16 November 2019, 2-3PM (in English);

CO.AS.IT., Melbourne: 21 November 2019, 11AM-12PM (in Italian).

AN EXCHANGE RESIDENCY BETWEEN SICILY AND AUSTRALIA

Talk with Miriam La Rosa, Kade McDonald, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Steaphan Paton and

Giuseppe Lana.

Italian Cultural Institute

125 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Thursday 3 October 2019, 6.15PM

Free event: RSVP iicsydney.esteri.it

Italian Cultural Institute

233 Domain Road, South Yarra, VIC 3141

Thursday 10 October 2019, 6.30-8PM

Free event: RSVP iicmelbourne.esteri.it

The talk will discuss exchange artists’ residencies that took place between Sicily (at

Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, FARM Cultural Park, Favara, and Museo Palazzo Riso,

Palermo) and Australia (in Gippsland, Victoria, and at Durrmu Arts, in the Aboriginal

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community of Peppimenarti, Northern Territory). The project addresses the

potential of innovative cultural practices in places that are remote or peripheral to

national and mainstream agendas, within an expanded notion of Global South. The

participating artists are Regina Pilawuk Wilson (Ngan’ngikurrungurr woman, senior

artist and Cultural Director of Durrmu Arts), Steaphan Paton (Gunai and Monero

Nations artist based in Melbourne), and Giuseppe Lana (artist born in Sicily, who

lives and works between Catania and London). The project is part of Miriam La

Rosa’s PhD research at the University of Melbourne (supervisors Professor Charles

Green and Professor Ian McLean) and is curated in collaboration with Kade

McDonald, Executive Director, Durrmu Arts.

The project is supported by: Australia Council for the Arts; The University of

Melbourne; Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation; CO.AS.IT. Melbourne and the

Italian Cultural Institutes in Sydney and Melbourne.

PRESERVATION IS AN ACT OF POLITICAL WARFARE.

AN EXCHANGE RESIDENCY BETWEEN SICILY AND AUSTRALIA

Exhibition curated by Miriam La Rosa and Kade McDonald

CO.AS.IT.

199 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC 3053

Tuesday 12 November 2019 to early 2020 (TBA)

Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM; Saturday 12.30-5PM.

Free entry.

Opening event:

CO.AS.IT.

199 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC 3053

Tuesday 12 November 2019, 6.30-8PM

Free event: RSVP coasit.com.au

Guided tours with Miriam La Rosa:

CO.AS.IT.

199 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC 3053

Saturday 16 November 2019, 2-3PM: Guided tour in English.

Free event: RSVP coasit.com.au

Thursday 21 November 2019, 11AM-12PM: Guided tour in Italian.

Free event: RSVP coasit.com.au

This exhibition brings together works by three artists coming from different

geographical and cultural contexts: Regina Pilawuk Wilson (Ngan’ngikurrungurr

woman, senior artist and Cultural Director of Durrmu Arts, an Aboriginal corporation

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located in Peppimenarti, Northern Territory), Steaphan Paton (Gunai and Monero

Nations artist based in Melbourne), and Giuseppe Lana (an artist born in Sicily, who

lives and works between Catania and London). What ties their practice together is

their commitment to reflect on the legacy of their places of origin and their

participation in the struggles associated with the validation and preservation of their

heritage. The conversation among the three artists is established through exchange

residencies that took place in Sicily (Italy), in Gippsland, Victoria, and in the

Aboriginal community of Peppimenarti, Northern Territory. The project is a window

into the worlds of Regina, Steaphan and Giuseppe: it looks at their ways of

preserving culture through art while offering powerful opportunities to challenge

and expand geographical and political borders. Melbourne based photographer and

film-maker Timothy Hillier has followed the whole journey of the three artists,

capturing their experience in a film shown for the first time in this exhibition

together with selected photographs of the residencies.

The exhibition is curated by Miriam La Rosa, PhD candidate at The University of

Melbourne, and Kade McDonald, Executive Director, Durrmu Arts. The project is

supported by: Australia Council for the Arts; The University of Melbourne; Durrmu

Arts Aboriginal Corporation; CO.AS.IT. Melbourne and the Italian Cultural Institutes

in Sydney and Melbourne.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES:

Regina Pilawuk Wilson is a Ngan’gikurrungurr woman, senior artist and Cultural Director of

Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation. In 1973, together with her husband, Harold Wilson, she

founded the Peppimenarti (meaning ‘large rock’) Community as a permanent settlement for

the Ngan’gikurrungurr people. The location of the community is an important dreaming site

for the Ngan’gikurrungurr language group and is situated amid wetlands and floodplains at

the centre of the Daly River Aboriginal Reserve, 300 kilometres southwest of Darwin. In

2003 Wilson won the General Painting category of the Telstra National Indigenous and

Torres Strait Islander Award for a golden syaw (fish-net) painting. Examples of her work are

held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, The National Gallery of

Victoria, The Gallery of Modern Art (Queensland Art Gallery), The British Museum and

numerous private and corporate collections in Australia and overseas. Her paintings have

been included in many group exhibitions at public and private art institutions, including the

Third Moscow Biennale of Art, the Wynne Prize (2008 and 2009), Art Gallery of New South

Wales, and Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters at the National

Museum of the Arts, Washington. Her work was recently exhibited in Marking the Infinite,

at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC (2018) and at Second Street Gallery,

Charlottesville, Virginia (2018).

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Steaphan Paton is a Gunai and Monero Nations artist based in Melbourne. Influenced by his

home country, ‘Gippsland’, he considers concepts of colonialism, tradition, race and conflict

to articulate his views across painting, sculpture, installation and video. His work has been

exhibited at major Australian art institutions including Colony: Frontier Wars at National

Gallery of Victoria (2018), Sovereignty at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (2016),

Murruwaygu at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2015), Moving Backwards into the

Future at National Gallery of Victoria (2015), Melbourne NOW at National Gallery of Victoria

International (2013). Steaphan is an alumnus of Primavera at the Museum of Contemporary

Art (2015) and Next Wave Festival (2014). His most recent solo exhibitions include

Gunailand at Gippsland Art Gallery (2018), Muraskin at Tristian Koenig (2017) and

Contrecoup at COMA Gallery (2017). His most recent group exhibitions include Gertrude

Studios 2018 at Gertrude Contemporary (2018), Weapons for the Soldier at Hazelhurst

Gallery (2018) and at Booth D5 at the Melbourne Art Fair (2018). His work is represented in

the collection at the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Museums

Victoria, City of Darebin, Yarra City Council, Wellington Shire Council and the Brooklyn

Library in New York. Steaphan’s work is also held in private collections in both Australia and

internationally. He is currently in the studio residency program at Gertrude Contemporary

2018-2019.

Giuseppe Lana is an artist who lives and work between Catania and London. He explores

notions of history, memory, identity and time, developed through site-specific installations

and the ongoing project DRON. His artistic research is influenced by the local context of

Sicily, inspired by historical events as well as personal stories. Giuseppe’s work is included in

various private collections both in Italy and internationally. Selected recent projects include

Politics of Dissonance, Manifesta 2018, Palermo, New Commission – Italian capital of culture

Museo Palazzo Riso, Palermo (2018), Artist in Residence at Fondation Boghossian, Bruxelles

(2018) and Photology Air (Art In Ruins), Noto (2018). Recent solo and group projects include

Pareidolia, Daniel Benjamin Gallery/The Space Station, London (2019), Souvenir, Spazio

Murat, Bari (2019), Business as Usual, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin (2017), Out of Sight, Five

Years, London (2016), Internation Art, HDLU, Zagreb (2015), L’uccisione di Priamo, Galleria

Francesco Pantaleone, Palermo (2015), “Ce l’ho / Mi manca”, History of collecting in Italy in

the last ten years, Museo Mandralisca, Cefalù (PA), The artist as curator’s art Vol. IV, Schau

Fenster, Berlin (2014), Fragile, Galleria UPP, Venice (2014), Un’Opera per il Castello, Castel

Sant’Elmo, Naples (2014), Contemporary Park Art Project / CPAP, Villa Aurelia, Parco

Archeologico Valle dei Templi, Agrigento (2014), Let it go, Museo Palazzo Riso, Palermo

(2014), Togli il fermo, American Academy, Rome (2013). In 2008, Giuseppe co-founded

BOCS (Box Of Contemporary Space) in Catania, a place dedicated to experimentation with

new artistic methods and languages, where he is still currently involved in the role of Artistic

Director.

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Timothy Hillier is a photographer working with still and moving imagery, in a vernacular and

documentary style. Working on projects from commercial to artist films and to community-

based documentaries, Hillier collaborates with an intrepid eye. For the last seven years, he

has extensively travelled around Australia, working in every corner of the continent, with

First Nations communities on youth empowering music projects, or in documentaries

capturing dance, tradition, art and health. He has been a vital part in the growth of many

young indigenous artists, from musicians Baker Boy and Dallas Woods, to actors Baykali

Ganambarr and Gordon Churchill. He is in post-production on documentaries about the rise

of Baker Boy, and a NITV funded documentary about Melbourne/Naarm based arts project

‘The Torch’. Colour being a defining part of Hillier’s visuals, it drives his narratives, relays

emotions and ideas in his photography and captivates. He is a digital story teller with

expertise in moving and still capture, editing and sound, and directing.

Miriam La Rosa is an independent curator and PhD Candidate at The University of

Melbourne, and a founding member of the Graduate Academy of the Centre of Visual

Culture (CoVA), 2019. Prior to moving to Australia, she worked as Senior Researcher for the

art consultancy agency Montabonel & Partners, London, engaging in the realisation of

international symposia and publications such as the think tank Media in the Expanded Field

(Fundación Casa Wabi, Mexico, July 2016) and the Report Art Institutions of the 21st Century

(2016). Between 2015 and 2017, with her curatorial collective amaCollective, Miriam was a

member of Five Years – an artist-run, independent space, active in London since 1998. She

has contributed to projects in Education, Public Program and Exhibition departments of

institutions including Whitechapel Gallery, London, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and Van

Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. Miriam is a co-founder of the online publishing platform CtC,

which she manages since 2013. In 2015, she was awarded the first NSS/CASS FINE ART

Student Award for ‘Curatorial Project’ for LIMITACTION, a six-month residency program she

launched in the Window Space, London. Miriam holds an MA in Curating the Contemporary

from London Metropolitan University, a Master of Museology from Reinwardt Academy,

Amsterdam, and a BA (Hons) in Art History from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,

Brescia.

Kade McDonald is the Executive Director of Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation and was

the Coordinator for Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Arts and Cultural Centre for 6 years. He has been

engaged as a cultural consultant through ANKA (Association of Northern, Kimberley and

Arnhem Aboriginal Artists) for several years implementing cultural maintenance and

repatriation projects and has also been appointed as the Australian Project manager and co-

curator for the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum at the University of Virginia USA, for their

major touring exhibition of Arnhem Land bark paintings, Madayin, scheduled for 2020. He

was also recently appointed by the Art Gallery of South Australia as the Producer for the

2019 Tarnanthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Festival. Kade has lectured

broadly across the USA on Australian Indigenous art including a recent presentation as part

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of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, for their prestigious 2017 public program

Summer lecture series. Kade was the founding Director of Bus Projects, Melbourne in 2001

and has previously been appointed to the Visual Arts Grants selection committee for The

Ministry for the Arts, The Australian Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria (Chair) and Arts

NT Visual Arts board and is currently on the board of the Bundoora Homestead Art Centre,

Darebin City Council. He is an appointed Expert Examiner for the Moveable Heritage Act on

behalf of the Federal Government and the Department of Communications and the Arts and

a fellow of the Centre of Visual Culture (CoVA), The University of Melbourne.

IMAGES: see following pages. High resolution files can be sent on request.

Miriam La Rosa is available for interviews:

E: miriam@student.unimelb.edu.au

M: 0431 579 132

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Pict 1: (from left to right) Kade McDonald, Jesse Gibbs, Miriam La Rosa, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Xena Wilson. Mondello beach, Palermo, Sicily. 28 July 2019. Photograph by Timothy Hillier.

Pict 2: Regina Pilawuk Wilson. Catania, 17 July 2019. Photograph by Miriam La Rosa

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Pict 3: Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Syaw (Fish net) (2008), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne © Regina Pilawuk Wilson / Licensed by VISCOPY, Australia.

Pict 4: Steaphan Paton, Whiteman premonition #2 (2012). Still video. HD digital video. 3’04’’. Image courtesy of the artist.

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Pict 5: Giuseppe Lana, L’uccisione di Priamo (Priam’s Murder) (2015). Detail, video frame. Video, sound 17’04’’. Image courtesy of the artist.