Maree Clarke

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.

Early life and education Maree Clarke was born in 1961 at Swan Hill, Victoria, of Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung, and Wemba Wemba descent.

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

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

In 2022, a major retrospective of Clarke's works titled Ancestral Memories was shown at the NGV.

In 2023, Clarke won the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, "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".

Personal life Clarke has lived in Melbourne since 1988 and . National Museum of Australia

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions 2021 Ancestral Memories, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2019 Eel Trap with Mitch Mahoney, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Footscray, Victoria 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

2019 Linear, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, New South Wales 2019 Indigenous Design, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2019 The Women’s Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria 2018 Colony: Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2018 Island Welcome, Craft Victoria, Melbourne 2018 The Women’s Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria 2017 Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT 2017 An Unorthodox flow of images, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Victoria(as part of The Melbourne Festival) 2017 Get the picture (Melbourne 2017 Fringe Festival) Blak Dot Gallery, Brunswick, Victoria 2017 The Women’s Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria 2016 Sovereignty, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne, Victoria 2016 Who’s Afraid of Colour? National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne