ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain
Sat 24 May - Sun 13 Jul 2025 | Burrinja Gallery
351 Glenfern Road, Upwey, Victoria
Opening hours: 10am-4pm Weds-Sun.
We started to feel our bodies in a continuum with the body of the mountain.
Walking together across Corhanwarrabul (Dandenong Ranges), a group of artists shared place-responsive practices and considered what it means to 'listen to Country' through their diverse perspectives.
ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain is an exhibition outcome from this mobile residency.
Curated by Gretel Taylor with Gülsen Özer and Mandy Nicholson, the exhibition includes painting, screendance, sound installation, textiles, sculpture, digital and cyanotype photography.
Artists: Aarti Jadu, Rebecca Murray, Mandy Nicholson, Jill Orr, Gülsen Özer, Laki Sideris, Gretel Taylor and Tammy Wong Hulbert.
Free Exhibition Opening | Sat 24 May 3pm-5pm
Join us to celebrate the opening of ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain at Burrinja Gallery. The event will feature performances by Jill Orr and Djirri Djirri dancers and a Welcome to Country by Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson.
Cyanotype Workshop facilitated by Rebecca Murray | Sat 7 Jun 11am - 12.30pm | $10 per person
Local artist, Rebecca Murray, is renowned for her beautiful cyanotype photography. She will lead a workshop for young people (aged 8+) to create a sun-printed image from found natural materials. Participants can then take their unique artworks home.
'Biik Ngarrga' - Wurundjeri Dance Workshop led by Djirri Djirri | Wed 9 Jul 11am - 11.45am | $10 per person
Learn about the layers of Country through dance.
Djirri Djirri are the only Wurundjeri female dance group and are Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) and surrounds. Djirri Djirri means Willy Wagtail in Woiwurrung, our Mother Tongue. The Willy Wagtail is the Spirit’s Messenger and gave us dance! Our dances honour our Liwik (Ancestors), Kerr-up-non (Family), Biik (Country) and animals.
Place-responsive Art and Performance Now: a panel discussion | Thu 12 Jun 5.30-7pm| Free
Hosted by Centre for Art and Social Transformation (CAST), RMIT.
Panellists: Professor Vicky Hunter (UK), Arahmaiani (Indonesia), Dr Jill Orr, Dr Mandy Nicholson.
Chaired by Dr Gretel Taylor and introduced by Dr Tammy Wong Hulbert
Online and in-person: RMIT Interactive Theatre, Building 80, 435-457 Swanston Street, Melbourne/Naarm and online.
On Country/
In Residence (2024 - 2025)
BodyPlaceProject collective will walk 'ngurrak barring', a new public art and cultural trail across the Dandenong Ranges (Corhanwarrabul), together with guest artists, all with deep interest in responding to place through their diverse artforms and perspectives.
Over the 3-day 40km walk, artists will share practices and approaches to place, as a mobile, immersive professional development. Artists will develop their responses for a subsequent multi-arts exhibition that reflects their experiences of walking together listening to Country.
Artists: Gretel Taylor, Gulsen Ozer, Laki Sideris, Tammy Wong Hulbert, Jill Orr, Aarti Jadu, Mandy Nicholson and Rebecca Murray.
Launch
Wed, 16 Oct, 10:30am - 12pm
Karwarra Australian Plant Garden and Nursery, Kalorama
Join artists of BodyPlaceProject for the start of our ngurrak barring residency, On Country/In Residence!
Welcome to Country by Wurundjeri Knowledge Holder Dr Mandy Nicholson.
You are invited to join us for the first hour of the walk, from Karwarra to Five Ways/Kalorama Park via the May Moon Track.
Yarn with the Artists
Thu, 17 Oct, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Birdsland Environmental Education Centre, Belgrave Heights
You are invited to an informal gathering with the artists in the thick of our residency. From our immersive experience of walking through the varied environments of Corhanwarrabul, we will share some of our prevailing explorations and observations with interested locals.
Some light refreshments will be available.
Making Sense of Place (2023 - 2027)
BodyPlaceProject collective is excited to have commenced a 4-year program entitled Making Sense of Place, bringing site-responsive performance and participatory arts to places and communities across the Yarra Ranges region, east of Melbourne/Narrm.
The program will offer place-based activities engaging with themes relevant to our times, such as climate change, social inequity and decolonisation. The activities will produce performances, exhibitions and other artistic outcomes, as well as deepening collaborative connections between artists, cultural custodians and other experts, to generate and revitalise art practices and foster new understandings of place.
The projects will bring together leading contemporary arts practitioners and foreground First Nations culture to consider how we can encounter places with care and nuance. Outcomes created in Yarra Ranges are intended for audiences both locally and further afield, and the program will include forums for discourse between local and international artists and practice-led thinkers.
The first projects are ‘Sensing Country’, a series of walks guided by Wurundjeri knowledge holders; and ‘On Country/In Residence’, an artists’ residency with a public exhibition outcome.
Making Sense of Place is supported by Yarra Ranges Council through a Partnership grant.
‘On Country/In Residence’ is supported by a Yarra Ranges Council Arts and Heritage grant and ngurrak barring. On Country/In Residence is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
