Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories

Maree Clarke is one of Melbourne’s most dynamic cultural leaders. A Yorta Yorta / Wamba Wamba / Mutti Mutti / Boonwurrung woman, Clarke is an artist, designer, curator, researcher and leader in the reclamation of south-east Australian Aboriginal art, design and culture.

Through her multidisciplinary work – which includes photography, printmaking, sculpture, jewellery, video, glass and more – Clarke challenges the harmful notion that the cultural practices of the South East have been ‘lost’ due to colonisation and uses her work to assert the continuation of her Ancestral memory. Clarke’s work highlights a deep engagement with and reverence for the customary ceremonies, rituals, objects and language of her Ancestors.

This publication, edited by Myles Russell-Cook, Curator, Indigenous Art at the NGV and curator of the exhibition Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories, is the first major monograph of the Melbourne-based artist and designer, covering more than three decades of artistic output, including her critically acclaimed work of recent years. Through essays and texts from leading authors and thinkers, including a number of Clarke’s close friends and associates, this publication offers a comprehensive insight into the life and work of the artist.