Rate My Professor Marzena Topka

Marzena Topka serves as an Associate Lecturer (Fine Art OUA) in the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University, where she has been part of the academic staff in Art OUA Studies since 2009. Born in Chojnice, Poland, in 1969, she arrived in Australia in 1983 and has resided in Perth, Boorloo on Wadjak Noogar Boodjar, Western Australia, since 1985. Her academic qualifications include a Master of Creative Arts (Fine Art) from Curtin University in 2011, a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours, Fine Art) from Curtin University in 2005, an Advanced Diploma of Fine Arts from Central TAFE in 2003, and a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours, Art History) from the University of Western Australia in 1993. Topka's practice spans sculpture, textiles, drawing, and film, inspired by the irrationality of systems and their failures.

She maintains an extensive exhibition history with solo presentations such as Boundaries of Beige at Fremantle Arts Centre in 2014 and light weeks away… at Galerie Düsseldorf in 2010. Key group exhibitions include Resurface: Gothic Tales from the Indian Ocean at IOTA24, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre in 2024; Totemism: Climate Altered Species at Spectrum Project Space in 2021; HERE&NOW19: Material Culture at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in 2019; Polygraphics: Walking the Line at Gallery Central in 2016; and multiple appearances in Staff Room exhibitions and John Curtin Gallery shows at Curtin University. Topka has held residencies at Artsource Studios from 2008 to 2019, as Artist in Residence at Fremantle Arts Centre in 2014, and Graduate in Residence at Curtin University in 2005. Awards include the 2012 Development Grant from the Department of Culture and the Arts, Western Australia; 2009 Galerie Düsseldorf/Curtin University Department of Art Post Graduate Scholarship Award; 2006 Arts Development Grant from ArtsWA; and 2003 Award for Innovation from WA School of Art, Design and Media, Central TAFE. Her works reside in the Lloyd R. Horne Art Collection and various private national and international collections.