The #share exhibition artworks will be posted here in September 2024.
"We believe in the power of art
to provoke thought, evoke empathy
and drive action."
"NOBODY'S FREE UNTIL EVERYBODY'S FREE"
Dr. Martin Luther King
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Interview: Mars Drum - The Enigmatic Artist
It was a real treat to have my website and media links thoroughly researched by Martin John Lee, who is also a contemporary artist and one I follow with great interest, before deep diving into my work, my herstory and influences. And doubly treated to have the show topped off with a live phone review of my work between Martin and his international arts correspondent in NYC, Wally Gunn.
SEEING EYE TO EYE
Mars Drum
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Image: Mars DRUM, Warcrying, 2021, acrylic on canvas |
22nd April - 21st May 2023
Horsham Regional Art Gallery
‘Seeing Eye to Eye’ is a selection of mixed media works from ‘The True History of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman’. Viewers are invited to examine their own personal beliefs relating to cultural diversity against those promoted in the media. Although we may have different customs, religions, genders and perspectives, we all share the need to belong, and be loved and respected because we’re all from one race: the human race.
Upcoming event:
Meet the artist at our exhibition opening
Thursday 4 May at 5.00pm
Horsham Regional Art Gallery
Join us as Drum discusses her ongoing series, ‘The True History of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman’, a study of Australia’s cultural history and identity. It has been exhibited, shortlisted,and reviewed positively both nationally and internationally since 2006.
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A group show to kick off the Horsham's Art Is Festival 2022
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| Artists in order from left to right: Yama Harradine, Mars Drum, Nhill Women Artist Collective, The Huxleys |
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| Paintings for sale: mars.drawingtime@gmail.com No. 6 Something True now sold. |
My Artist Statement
I pay my respect to the Traditional Owners and
Custodians of the Land on which I live and I
acknowledge the unbroken connection to
Country enshrined in their stories.
The knowledge that I live on unceded Aboriginal
land is what has underpinned my ongoing True
History art series since 2001.
My two protagonists,
Ned Kelly and Burka Woman, have served to
represent Australians from other countries and
cultures who have come to this land over the last
234 years and called it home.
I am a whitefella artist living on Aboriginal land.
I feel lucky that I can use my art to check my
privilege in calling this land my home.
Where: Community Art Gallery @ the Horsham Regional Art Gallery
When: May 25th - July 2022
Gala Opening: 5:30pm Friday 24th June 2022
Featuring The Huxleys dance performance and other exciting festival highlights
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CASPA Gallery presents
MARS DRUM
EYESEEYOU
New Work from
The True History of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman
Exhibition dates:
Sat 5th – Sun 27th March 2022
Open every day
from 10am - 4pm
Mars Drum will be in the gallery on weekends
Covid-safe viewing in the gallery
CASPA gallery is located above Stoneman’s Bookroom
Cnr Hargreaves & Mostyn Sts, Castlemaine
ENQUIRIES:
"Ned Kelly and Burka Woman help me process my own transmutations
and responses within the seismic context of an imploding nation and planet.
I just want to smash all the existing regressive societal constructs
that limit who we are and can be.
See how Ned and Burka now merge, overlap, transition, shift shapes colours moods...
uniting in heartache and love, hope and loss...
The Eyeseeyou series includes eyes that see you and each other clearly as one race.
We are one race. We're the human race."
December 2021
I am painting new work for a solo exhibition in March 2022
@ Caspar gallery, Castlemaine, Victoria
Some of my paintings feature in videos
which can also be viewed in HD on Vimeo
1.5 Degrees NOW
Part 1
Part 2
May - October 2021
Creative Workers in Schools
A multi-arts residency program at Dimboola PS, Victoria:
* Creating a Years 3/4/5 class podcast titled "I Talk Kids"
* Exploring musical elements of rhythm through choreographed and improvised dance, and vocable chants with actions
Below is a short Construction in Process video of the CWS project recorded at Dimboola PS during Term 3.
This program was delivered by Regional Arts Victoria in partnership with the Department of Education and Training and Creative Victoria through the support of the Victorian Government’s Working for Victoria (WFV) initiative.
December 2021 Update: "Baltering to Blackfella and Whitefella"
A Term 4 music video project as a follow-up to the Creative Workers in Schools artist residency undertaken in Terms 2 and 3 at Dimboola PS, Wotjobaluk country, Australia
August 2021
My visual response to the nightmare happening right now in Aghanistan
can be viewed in HD on Vimeo: "We Are One"
Earlier in August 2021
View my latest videos on Vimeo
featuring my new painting titled
Screenshot from "Paint The Pain Away" (Mars Drum, August 2021, Vimeo)
July 2021
We Are One
I've been painting a lot this year
which makes me very happy
Ned and Burka are so close
that quite often these days
they overlap
and become one
I am working towards a solo exhibition to be held in March 2022
More details coming soon
New work
Same folk
Different styles
December 2020
Women's Art Register: Bulletin Issue 67 Dec 2020
TAKING UP SPACE
A visual essay of selected women artists' public art actions in Melbourne in the 1980s and 1990s. Curated by Caroline Phillips:
"I moved into one of two wooden rooms built between the pylons of Dynan Road Bridge [...] following the 1998 Construction in Process:VI: The Bridge festival, facilitating a community mural on the three facing pylons on the edge of the Maribyrnong River. There were between 50 and 100 people daily - dog walkers, cyclists, families, schoolkids, police, Uncle Larry and a small crew of artists who were connected to the Bridge festival event - who "made their mark" on the pylons [...] It was a completely magical experience with no phone or money involved."
Mars Drum, artist.
"I moved into one of two wooden rooms built between the pylons of Dynan Road Bridge [...] following the 1998 Construction in Process:VI: The Bridge festival, facilitating a community mural on the three facing pylons on the edge of the Maribyrnong River. There were between 50 and 100 people daily - dog walkers, cyclists, families, schoolkids, police, Uncle Larry and a small crew of artists who were connected to the Bridge festival event - who "made their mark" on the pylons [...] It was a completely magical experience with no phone or money involved."
Mars Drum, artist.
July 2020
ART for CHANGE
Shall I Start to Drink?
Paintings and video by Mars Drum
Soundtrack "Lusty Poochy" by Womnal
Jan - May 2020
NEW WORK
"Australiens"
#livingonaboriginalland
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| An interactive project in development phase |
What does "Living on Aboriginal Land" mean to you?
*Due to covid restrictions, this interactive project is postponed until further notice
March 2020
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| "We Are One I" in new home, Millthorpe, NSW (Photo: Owner supplied) 2020 |
The complete works of
The True History of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman
@mars.drum on Instagram.
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March 2019
The Agosto Foundation in Czech Republic is working on a media archive of artist activities and events in Czech Republic.
This is the summary of my six months art residency at the Centre for Metamedia in 1999, Western Bohemia, Czech Republic.
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Find my latest work on Instagram @mars.drum
March 2019
The Agosto Foundation in Czech Republic is working on a media archive of artist activities and events in Czech Republic.
This is the summary of my six months art residency at the Centre for Metamedia in 1999, Western Bohemia, Czech Republic.
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Find my latest work on Instagram @mars.drum
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July 2018 Back from my NYC Art Infusion Experience
The first of my viddigifs informing my next art project.....documenting The Met's "Heavenly Bodies" exhibition on my art research trip to New York last month ..... can be viewed in slower motion @mars.drum on Instagram:
#fetishwear for angels, virgins, goddesses and whores... designed by very rich and famous males
Thom Browne - famous for his #whitemink creations #banfurfarming
June 2018
"The Opening" sold last week.
I'm going to miss seeing this painting on my wall, definitely a favourite of mine.
April 2018 THE STRONG SUNFLOWER
Delighted to have my artwork included in Mohammad Ali Maleki's book of poetry -
"THE STRONG SUNFLOWER".
Written on Manus Island, produced by Rose Turtle Ertler and Janet Galbraith.
Published by Writing Through Fences.
January 2018
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Find Mars Drum on Instagram @mars.drum
#invasionday
#firstaustralians
#honourthylandanditspeople
#aboriginalflag
#nednburka
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| Self-portrait oil on linen Jan 2018 |
September 2017
Instagram peek
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| The Kiss He wouldn't listen Lady Ned steps out |
INVITATION 
July/August 2017
The rapidly changing climate occupies my mind as I paint in my garage studio
My most recent oil painting ended up as a snowstorm
Snow storm (detail)
And I've been playing around with mixed media...
... thinking of mass migration...
and multiculturalism
INVITATION
Thinkers & Makers Salon #6
July/August 2017 The rapidly changing climate occupies my mind as I paint in my garage studio
My most recent oil painting ended up as a snowstorm
Snow storm (detail)
And I've been playing around with mixed media...
... thinking of mass migration... and multiculturalism  |
Feb 2017
Feb 2017
October 2016
Ned and Burka in Artco Monthly, Taiwan
#LetThemStay
Gave the #LetThemStay banner to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, Melbourne
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| Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, 12th February 2016 |
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| Finalist piece for the Incinerator Art Award 2015: "Burka leads the way" More from the Little Desert series here |
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"Cultural Identity and my Ned and Burka Art"
August 7th 2015: Introducing my talk on Cultural Identity to Year 12 boys
at Melbourne High School, Sth Yarra.
Bookings: mars.drawingtime@gmail.com
Testamonials
"You spoke so well and had prepared your text and images meticulously. It was an enthralling and thought provoking presentation that opened up the boys minds to the experience that some people arriving here have, if they cannot find ‘a place to belong’."
(Alex Grimwade, Melbourne High English Teacher)
"Your presentation at Melbourne High was excellent. I wish you all the best with your art, and your spreading of the much-needed words of positivity about culture, diversity and integration. I hope, in the future, your art will make an even greater impact on our society."
(Matt Wong, Melbourne High Old Boy)
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Pink riverbed photo shoot, June 2015
Burka Woman feels safe in the pink riverbed, safe enough to take her niqab off. Ned's not yet convinced that the coast is completely clear.
Click here to view more of the Pink Riverbed series.
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Ned and Burka on the Pink Lake in The Age again!!
ABC RN : Books and Art Tues 14th April 2015
Tune in here for Michael Cathcart with Tansy Curtin and Mars Drum at Bendigo Art Gallery
View Ned and Burka Woman on the Pink Lake here
Mars Drum and Pamela Irving at the Opening of "Imagining Ned"
March 2015, Bendigo Regional Art Gallery
"A year in a burqa gives artist a new view of Ned Kelly's story"
27th March 2015 - Click here to read about Ned Kelly, Burka Woman and Mars Drum.
Story by Larissa Romensky, ABC Central Victoria
"The Age", March 14 2015
"Imagining Ned"
Opening March 28, 2015
Bendigo Regional Art Gallery
Leanne Fitzgibbon - Senior Curator "Imagining Ned" Bendigo Art Gallery:
Through her practice, artist Mars Drum has reimagined Ned in an entirely new locale: the Pink Lake of the Wimmera region. Her photographic work in this exhibition of Ned and the woman in a burqa – two masked figures – is one of intimacy. While Ned, a 19th-century character, is an outsider because of his bushranger status, the burqa-clad woman represents a contemporary outsider, and like Ned she is often defined by her dress. Drum’s intimate portrait encourages the viewer to see beyond their outerwear and experience their humanity, with the subjects holding hands while walking through a sublime landscape, evoking great empathy.
View more from the Pink Lake series here
Easter Sunday Little Desert shoot 2015
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"Desert Selfie" |
More photographs from the Little Desert series here
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WOW in 2014 Regional Arts Australia 2014
"BELONGING - Great Art Stories from Regional Australia"
Published October 2014, this book can be downloaded from the RAA website.
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MEETING THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 2014
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On 23rd April 2014, Sir Peter and Lady Lynne Cosgrove visited Horsham for the day, and included a tour of our 2013 Writing on the Walls public art project on their itinerary. They were very interested in reading the various pieces of writing installed on the Library walls, and chatting to the participants of the Wow team who were able to be present. Soe Son Di describes the fears and dangers of her former life in the refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border, and how she loves Horsham because she feels calm and safe.
You can check out Writing on the Walls of Horsham at www.wow-horsham.blogspot.com
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Easter Monday Pink Lake shoot 2014
More photographs of Ned Kelly and Burka Woman here.
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USED
Gallery Central, Nhill.
Opening at 7 pm, this Friday the 11th April 2014
please join us.
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| Preview detail of my "Make a Move" installation in "Used", April 2014 |
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Look out for me in issue 2 of Art Edit, a new magazine about living with art.
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| Art Edit Gallery, p. 54 |
Click here to view this piece: "Canan and Omar on the Wimmera River" 2014
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DIMBOOLA COURIER : OASIS gets wet at Dimboola today Sunday, February 23 2014
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OASIS Wimmera migrant families enjoyed time spent on the Wimmera River at Dimboola today during one of their regular outings.
Members, from countries including India, Bangladesh and Turkey, meet to absorb Australian culture in a variety of settings, and to meet new people around the area.
The group is supported by committee members Wendy McInnes of Laharum and Mars Drum of Dimboola, who assist the group with their local knowledge and skills. Today the group enjoyed boating and swimming on the Wimmera River, and a picnic on the bank on Riverside.
Mars was introduced to the OASIS group through the children of her Writing On Walls (WOW) project in Horsham. This involved migrant children having their ideas and thoughts about belonging here installed around Horsham on bench seats and at the library entrance.
Mars will be spending time with the group over Easter during a painting workshop at Dimboolas Arura campsite.
OASIS Wimmera was formed in 2010 by three migrants who wanted to assist overseas migrants to integrate into Australian society and understand the cultural transition between Australia and their country of origin.
All migrants are invited to join in with the group; the next outing will be a camping experience at Arura next month.
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| Oasis Migrant Picnic Day, Riverside , Dimboola. The couple in the boat in the background provided the subject for my latest painting: "Canan and Omar on the Wimmera River", the first finished in a new series depicting new migrants enjoying themselves in my Little Desert Wimmera River region where I now live and work. __________________________________________________________________________________ |
Tune in here to the discussion as to whether burqas should be "allowed" in Australian Art galleries or not (!) I get to throw in my two cents worth over the phone at some point.
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The WOW launch: Saturday 22nd June 2013, Horsham. Here's a taster photo, check out the rest of the story and photos by clicking on this: WOW Horsham
Latest News ::: Public Art Project ::: WOW!
ABC Open's Larissa Romensky has made a video of our WOW project
Click here to watch!
Or watch us on ABC1 television on Wednesday 12th June 2013
at 9.55am and again at 8.55pm!
Writing on the Walls of Horsham
March - June 2013
Mars Drum working with youth from the CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) community of Horsham.
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APRIL 2013 NEWS!!!!
Mars Drum talks to ABC's Larissa Romensky, about Ned and Burka Woman.
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Solo Exhibition
March/April 2013
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Ned and Burka in Banyena
March 2013
Check out the Banyena Photo story here
October 2012
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| My backyard studio in Natimuk. |
Click this link to see the entire Ned and Burka series, and brush up on the historical narratives behind individual works.
Only a limited number of paintings left from the series, so click here to view, choose, buy and enjoy.
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July 2012
As advertised in Australian Art Collector magazine Issue 61 July - Sept 2012
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| "Opening of the Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi 2013 " Oils on canvas 51x41cm 2011 |
Ned and Burka Woman felt right at home at the Grand Opening of the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi, 2013. Ned suspected that Canadian-American architect, Frank Gehry, had modelled the stunning museum design on the lines of his own unique armour. And Burka Woman really enjoyed showing off the Sidney Nolan works of Ned Kelly to her female UAE friends.
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June 2012
ART IS NATURE
Installation for the "Art Is...festival" 2012, Horsham
Every child loves to draw. It’s natural.
Why did you stop drawing?
Did someone tell you once that your picture didn’t look right?
Drawing is fun. Drawing is for everyone.
Drawing is natural.
Art is Nature.
In this installation, I have set up a drawing space in an empty warehouse shop front in Horsham, Victoria, to invite members of the public to join me in drawing for fun. I have also set up a painting studio alongside the Drawing Room so I can continue with my painting practice as well.
Requirements for this installation include: Tables, chairs, rugs, pencils, pens, erasers, electric sharpener, sustainable forest paper, cushions, clipboards, reference books, book stands, organic teas, teapots, tea cosy, tea cups, jugs, tablecloths, honey, sugar, milk, rain water, electric kettle, esky, studio stools, easels, acrylic paints, mediums, varnish, canvases, jars, brushes, desktop for window promo, dividers, me, and people to draw with me.
The space has been provided by local real estate for Horsham's 2012 Art Is...festival. The project is funded by Regional Arts Victoria. My vision is to bridge the gap between members of the public who may not ever step inside a gallery to view artwork on display and local artists, that anyone may come in from the street to enjoy a cup of tea and draw with others for the fun of it. Once inside the building, the members of the public can see the rest of the art on display and take in festival performances which will be occurring daily during the eleven day festival, which opens Friday, 1st June.
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| Looking in to my painting studio from street at night, drawing videos looping throughout the festival. |
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| New Pencils. |
  Burka Woman sets up new space for photo shoot.  |
 
© Copyright Mars Drum 2015
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