Marianne Sebetti, a visual artist from Russia, has found a new home and source of inspiration in St Leonards. Coming from a little town in the Russian State of North Ossetia, on the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus, neither a place nor country normally associated with the Australian seaside, it might surprise many to hear Marianne say ‘I remember my first time coming to St Leonards and walking up the street towards the house belonging to Adam – my partner’s family. Everything, down to the tiniest details such as unpaved footpaths, power poles lining the street, no cars in sight, and the birds including swallows, reminded me of my grandparents’ place. I recalled the images so clearly of being back there and feeling happy.’ In a few short years, Marianne and Adam moved to St Leonards permanently.
Born in the 1980s, Marianne and her two sisters witnessed the fall of the USSR and the subsequent challenges of the 1990s. ‘The 90s were a turbulent time for many reasons; from political turmoil and everyone worrying for themselves to overnight attacks by neighbouring states. We were too young, and well protected by our parents, to remember everything of this, but our parents later told us. We stepped into the 2000s with uncertainty about the future as Putin took over from Yeltsen. Good and bad things happened since then, some are difficult to judge’.
During these difficult times Marianne’s grandparents moved to a nearby village, where they built a home by hand on a large piece of land and her family survived financially by selling their extensive library collection and relying on food from the grandparents’ farm.
Visits to her grandparents’ place, were a three-hour train ride away. ‘Every day started early with a fresh breakfast cooked by our grandfather, followed by a few hours of farm work, and then we were free as birds for the rest of the day. We learned about being connected to where the food comes from, and loved every bit of it. Free time was spent sitting in cherry trees, playing with friends and our baby goat named Beetroot.’
‘My grandparents were great educators.They cultivated within me a sense of happiness and belonging, something I discovered later through my moments of low. My grandmother was a ‘proper communist’ committed to the cause, unsentimental and practical in her approach to life, while my grandfather was a very easy-going character and didn’t take himself or life too seriously. I adored them both. Their legacy lives on in our ability to take on the challenges that life throws at us with a full heart and, of course, through gardening. St Leonards is a place to connect back with nature. Soaking up the views of the bay I feel full and calm seeing the city in the distance.It all boils down to perspective, you see.’
Coming from a creative family with both parents involved in visual art and film, Marianne and her sisters attended an art lyceum in Vladikavkaz, the capital city, ‘an exceptional school established by one woman as an independent institution’. After art school, Marianne graduated with Honours in Visual Arts from university in Vladikavkaz.
Inspired by her aunt’s move to Australia, Marianne relocated to Melbourne in 2012, a year after an exploratory three-month tourist visit. Eventually her elder sister followed.
‘At 23, I was on my own for the first time. I had to learn everything, including the Australian version of the English language, which I did by listening and observing intently. Juggling university in Ballaratand hospitality work and life in Melbourne, I felt at home in no time and never looked back. Having said this, the happy years spent in Australia come at the huge sacrifice of time with our parents that we have lost.’
In 2015, Marianne graduated from Federation University with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and landed a work opportunity at a Brookfield-owned structural engineering firm as their resident artist.‘The dominant element of geometry in architecture and engineering influenced my art style, moving it away from freeform and figurative towards abstract, monochrome, and non-figurative, with strong balanced geometrical compositions.’
Marianne has exhibited widely and her works have been recognized in national art awards. In 2021, she founded Orb 23, an online platform for artists, makers, and local brands, which continues to grow.
Marianne’s latest solo show called Every Day is Different is about ‘exploring something different, letting go of the familiar and letting something unfamiliar take shape.’ Her new works take a bold and bright detour from the monochrome and highly structured earlier works to include colour and expression; often merging the two to create something new. The exhibition can be seen at Artisans of Australia Portarlington Road Curlewis 8 October to 3 November 2025. We think it’s fabulous, you must see it.
Marianne’s art work can also be found online and on Instagram: @mariannesebetti and @orb.23.
Humans in St Leonards 