Marilyn Russell

Bidjigal

It’s supposed to be handed down from grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters. To me it’s time consuming, which my mum’s got a lot of patience. I know you have to have it for this sort of work. They’re just so beautiful and… I’ve lost sight of that. But I really, really would love to get back in and do it. I suppose when I get a little bit older…

Marilyn Russell (Bidjigal)1

Aunty Marilyn’s shellwork forms are created from cardboard bases stretched with fabrics such as velvet or satin, then embellished with seashells and glitter. These shell artworks are a symbol of cultural strength, particularly as Marilyn’s daughter and granddaughter contributed to the making process. For the first time, thanks to Marilyn’s granddaughter, the addition of gold glitter can be seen on some of these works, a visual reminder to acknowledge and commemorate knowledge transfer to a new generation of women in the Timbery line.

Slippers are pairs of small shell worked slippers and while beautiful, connect to painful histories. These shell-covered slippers remember the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children who were forcibly taken from their families. The slippers’ small size alludes to the absence of the children whose feet they could fit. Slippers makes material the memories and minutiae of childhoods which were stolen from so many Aboriginal children and their families. This is recent history and within living memory for many.

Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay)

In 2020, fellow commissioned artist, Dennis Golding jointly curated the exhibition Ngaliya Diyam and included the shellworks of both Marilyn and her mother, Esme Timbery. These Sydney Harbour Bridge sculptures are instantly recognisable to most visitors, but Dennis takes this further and makes the viewer question as to why this iconic landmark has been chosen?

Aunty Marilyn is reclaiming the site as Aboriginal land and water through shells collected from Southeast coastlines and waters that flow in and around Sydney Harbour. 2

Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay)

These slippers, jewellery boxes and bridges are a testament and celebration of the ongoing shell tradition and speak to the resilience of Aboriginal families in La Perouse.

1 Nangara Gallery, ‘Esme Timbery and Marilyn Russell’, Na Ngara, Nangara Gallery, Sydney, 2017, https://www.nangara.gallery/esme-timbery, accessed 18 December 2022

2 Shim, S-M., ‘Declaring presence: ‘Ngaliya Diyam at Granville Centre Art Gallery’, Art Monthly Australasia, Canberra, 2020, https://www.artmonthly.org.au/blog/declaringpresence-ngaliya-diyam, accessed 18 December 2022

Marilyn Russell is a Bidjigal woman, born in 1953 at La Perouse, she continues to live on her Bidjigal Country.

Marilyn is recognised for her shell worked sculptures of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and slippers, also referred to as booties. This artistic practice is very much a family tradition and intergenerational practice. Aboriginal women of the La Perouse community have produced shellwork for generations. Marilyn’s inherited shellwork knowledge traces through her Timbery family, from her mother, Esme, following a long line to her great-great-grandmother ‘Queen’ Emma Timbery, who produced shell worked objects for an exhibition of Australian manufactures in England in 1910.1

Passed between grandmother to daughter to granddaughter, between sisters, aunts, and cousins. It is a family practice; from the collection of shells from particular beaches, to sitting together and working on shellwork projects. This matrilineal knowledge is continuous and accumulative and harkens back to the use of shells by local south-east Aboriginal women for fishhooks and jewellery. 2

Dennis Golding (Kamilaroi / Gamilaraay)

Marilyn’s work has been part of numerous exhibitions which include Wuliwulawala: Dharawal Women Sharing Stories 2021, Hazelhurst Arts Centre; Shell it 2021, a Boomalli exhibition at La Perouse Museum; Ngaliya Diyam 2020, Granville Centre Art Gallery; Ngadhu, Ngulili, Ngeaninyagu – A personal history of Aboriginal art in a premier state 2008, Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Marilyn’s work is held in numerous private collections and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. The WestConnex M4-M5 Link Tunnel, St Peters (2019–2022) is a recent joint commission with her mother, Esme Timbery which acknowledges this ongoing intergenerational practice, recognition of the importance of La Perouse shellwork.

1 Jones, J., ‘Esme Timbery’, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW, 2014, accessed 18 December 2022

2 Shim, S-M., ‘Declaring presence: ‘Ngaliya Diyam at Granville Centre Art Gallery’, Art Monthly Australasia, Canberra, ACT, 2020, accessed 18 December 2022

References

Golding, D., ‘Ngaliya Diyam’ , Granville Centre Art Gallery, Granville, 2020

Hazelhurst Arts Centre, ‘Wuliwulawala: Dharawal Women Sharing Stories exhibition’, Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Sydney, 2021, http://cms.ssc.nsw.gov.au/Community/Hazelhurst/ Exhibitions/Previous-Exhibitions/2021/Wuliwulawala-Dharawal-Women-Sharing-Stories , accessed 18 December 2022

Nangara Gallery, ‘Marilyn Russell’, Nangara Gallery, Sydney, NSW, 2017, https://www. nangara.gallery/marilyn-russell, accessed 18 December 2022

Nash, D., ‘From shell work to shell art: Koori women creating knowledge and value on the South Coast of NSW’, in Craft + design enquiry, issue 2, ANU Press, Canberra, 2010, https:// press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p212111/html/ch05.html?referer=&page=7#toc_ marker-5, accessed 18 December 2022

Nugent, R., ‘WestConnex M4-M5 Link Tunnels: Artwork Journey’, CM+40, Sydney, 31 August 2020, https://www.cmplus.com.au/westconnex-m4-m5-link-tunnels-art-journey/, accessed 18 December 2022

Randwick City Council, ‘Shell it: a Boomalli exhibition at La Perouse Museum’, Randwick City Council, Sydney, 2021, https://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/abous-us/news/newsitems/2021/june/shell-it-art-exhibition, accessed 18 December 2022

Sullivan, J., ‘First Nations artists declare Ngaliya Diyam – we are here’ , Art Guide, 6 November 2020, https://artguide.com.au/first-nations-artists-declaire-ngaliya-diyam-weare-here/, accessed 18 December 2022

Slippers, 2022

Shells, velvet, glitter, glue, paper, plywood Collection of the artist