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.
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.[3] Along with her brother and sister, Clarke established Kiah Krafts, an Aboriginal arts enterprise, in Mildura.[4]
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.[3] In 1996, Clarke curated, with Kimba Thompson and Len Tregonning, the We Iri We Homeborn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Festival.[citation needed] Her collaborations with these two artists as well as Sonja Hodge can be seen in public artworks around the city of Melbourne.[4]
Art practice
Black river reeds necklace with galah feathers, waxed thread (2019), Tarnanthi 2025, AGSA
Clarke works across a range of mediums, including photography, sculpture, painting, and jewellery.[5][4]
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.[6] Her work has seen her become a pivotal figure in the reclamation of cultural and artistic practices of South Eastern Australian Aboriginal peoples.[7][3] 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.[4]
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.[4]
In 2022, a major retrospective of Clarke's works titled Ancestral Memories was shown at the NGV.[9]
In 2023, Clarke won the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture,[10] "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".[11]
