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Maree Clarke facts for kids

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Maree Clarke is a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung/Wemba Wemba woman living in Melbourne, known for her work as a curator and artist. Clarke is a multidisciplinary artist renowned for her work in reviving South-eastern Aboriginal Australian art practices.

Career

Maree Clarke, a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung/Wemba Wemba woman, grew up in and around Mildura in North Western Victoria.

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. 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. Clark 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.

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. Her work has seen her become a pivotal figure in the reclamation of cultural and artistic practices of South Eastern Australian Aboriginal peoples. 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.

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

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

Works

Solo exhibitions

  • 2021 Ancestral Memories, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
  • 2019 Eel Trap with Mitch Mahoney, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Footscray, Vic
  • 2019 Translating Culture with Mitch Mahoney, Canberra Glassworks, Kingston ACT
  • 2019 Ancestral Memory, Treasury Gallery Old Quad, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
  • 2019 Reimagining Culture – Contemporary Connections to Culture, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura
  • 2018 Reimagining Culture, Arts Space Wodonga, Wodonga
  • 2015 Ritual: Connection to Country, Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne
  • 2011 Ritual & Ceremony, Bunjilaka Gallery, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne

Group exhibitions

Collections

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

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