Maree Clarke Explained

Maree Clarke (born 1961) is an Australian multidisciplinary artist and curator from Victoria, renowned for her work in reviving south-eastern Aboriginal Australian art practices.

Career

Maree Clarke, of Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung and Wemba Wemba descent, was born in Swan Hill and grew up in and around Mildura in North Western Victoria.[1]

She began working as an educator in her home town in 1978, which provided her with a solid base from which to develop her career in promoting and supporting South-East Aboriginal histories, culture and knowledge.[2] Along with her brother and sister, Clarke established Kiah Krafts, an Aboriginal arts enterprise, in Mildura.

She has lived in Melbourne since 1988.

The City of Port Phillip became the first Victorian local government to establish a centre dedicated to actively promoting Aboriginal arts and culture, creating the first Koori Arts Unit in St Kilda. Clarke was the first Koori Arts Officer from 1994 to 1998, and instrumental in its success. In 1996, Clarke curated, with Kimba Thompson and Len Tregonning, the We Iri We Homeborn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Festival. Her collaborations with these two artists as well as Sonja Hodge can be seen in public artworks around the city of Melbourne.

Artistic career

Clarke works across a range of mediums including photography, sculpture, painting and jewellery.[3]

Research and revival of cultural practices which have been lost as a result of colonisation form an important part of Clarke's art practice. Clarke goes to museums to research and work with objects in their collections.[4] Her work has seen her become a pivotal figure in the reclamation of cultural and artistic practices of South Eastern Australian Aboriginal peoples.[5] Her work has included eel traps, kopis, possum skin cloak-making, and kangaroo tooth necklaces (Thung-ung Coorang). She is committed to preserving intergenerational memories of cultural practices.

Recognition

Made from Memory (Nan's house) (2017) was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia in 2017 in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum.[6]

In 2021. Clarke was the first living Aboriginal artist to be featured in a solo exhibition in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.[7]

In 2022, a major retrospective of Clarke's works titled Ancestral Memories will be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.[8]

In 2023, Clarke won the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture,[9] "for her recent experimental work in glass as well as the pivotal role she has played in the Victorian Indigenous art scene over the past three decades".[10]

Works

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Collections

Clarke's work is included in the following galleries and collections:

References

  1. Web site: Maree Clarke Bio. 2021. Vivien Anderson Gallery. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200309134716/http://www.vivienandersongallery.com/artists/maree-clarke/bio. 2020-03-09. 2020-03-08.
  2. Web site: Fran Edmonds with Maree Clarke. Centre for Indigenous Story. en. 2020-03-08.
  3. Web site: Maree Clarke, Thung-ung Coorang (Kangaroo teeth necklace) 2013. Monash University Museum of Art. en. 2020-03-08.
  4. Web site: Linear Artists: Maree Clarke. Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. en-US. 2020-03-08.
  5. Web site: Maree Clarke: Bunjilaka. museumsvictoria.com.au. 2020-03-08.
  6. Web site: Made from Memory (Nan's house). Clarke. Maree. Item held by National Gallery of Australia. 2020-03-10.
  7. Web site: Clark . Maddee . Artist Maree Clarke's extraordinary practice celebrated in first solo show by a living Victorian Aboriginal artist at the NGV. ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 13 July 2021 . 15 July 2021.
  8. Web site: 2021-12-03. Maree Clarke Connects Country, Culture, and Place. 2021-12-03. ocula.com. en.
  9. Web site: Melbourne Prize Trust » Urban Sculpture . Melbourne Prize Trust . 15 January 2024.
  10. Web site: Burke . Kelly . Maree Clarke wins $60,000 Melbourne urban sculpture prize for detailed glass renderings of nature . . 15 November 2023 . 15 January 2024.
  11. Web site: Maree Clarke. Vivien Anderson Gallery. 2020-03-09.
  12. Web site: Maree Clarke Artists NGV. www.ngv.vic.gov.au. 2020-03-10.

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