MAREE Clarke prides herself on being able to tell important stories through her artistic abilities.
As the third recipient of a prestigious Yalingwa Fellowship – a $60,000 award or a senior First Peoples artist living and working in Victoria – the Swan Hill born artist will have further opportunities to keep doing that just that.
“It was pretty good, I guess, to be acknowledged for working in the industry for over 30 years,” Ms Clarke told The Guardian.
“My big push has always been to promote south-east Australian Aboriginal art, artists and culture.”
The Mutti Mutti, Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta and Boonwurrung woman became the first living Aboriginal artist to be featured in a solo exhibition in the National Gallery of Victoria in 2021, and is renowned for her multidisciplinary practice.
Ms Clarke was born in Swan Hill and lived on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River in Balranald before moving to Robinvale and then Mildura. She is now based in Melbourne.
“I left Mildura in 1988 to come to Melbourne to paint the first green and gold tram with my sister Karen Clarke-Edwards and Peter Clarke and Peter Campbell, and that was to advertise the then Koori Heritage Trust when it was based at the State Library,” Ms Clarke said.
“Then basically I went back to Mildura, packed up my little flat and went back to Melbourne, and I have been working as an artist and curator ever since.”
Ms Clarke believes her passion for art comes from being able to tell stories using a range of mediums, including photography, printmaking, sculpture, jewellery, video and glass.
“Because I have travelled around the world so much and have seen our material cultural items, I recreate those objects and then pass that knowledge on to my family,” she said.
“So whenever we have got another kangaroo-tooth necklace or possum-skin cloak to make, I try and involve the family as much as I can, so it is sharing culture, knowledge and everything that I do in the arts really.”
Yalingwa, which is a Woiwurrung word meaning both “day” and “light”, is a program designed to celebrate and strengthen First Peoples visual arts in Victoria, developed by the government in collaboration with Victoria’s First Peoples arts sector and launched in 2017.
Ms Clarke plans to use the fellowship to spend two to three months in Europe to research museum collections as well as create a new body of work while there.
“I have been wanting to do that for the last couple of years, but just haven’t had the time or space to do that, and this will give me the opportunity to comfortably go and just hang out and be in the space and create new work,” she said.
Yalingwa is delivered in partnership with the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and TarraWarra Museum of Art, and includes the fellowship, the employment of First People’s curators, and the development and presentation of a major exhibition of First Peoples art.
“Thanks to ACCA and Creative Victoria for creating this opportunity for artists to follow their dreams, I guess, and to work in an area that I am so passionate about is fantastic – you don’t have to just paint or sculpt, you can do a whole myriad of things,” Ms Clarke said.
Minister for Creative Industries Steve Dimopoulos said the Yalingwa initiative was a way the government was working to develop and promote First Peoples leadership in the creative industries, and backing the careers of First Peoples artists and arts workers.
“Maree Clarke is one of our most respected and important artists and a well-deserved recipient of the fellowship,” he said.
“I hope this opportunity enables her to reach even greater heights and introduces her work to a wider audience.”
