Traditionally, river reed necklaces were gifted to people passing through Country as a sign of safe passage and friendship. I have been working with river reeds since 2014, making supersized necklaces to talk about the enormous loss of land, language and cultural practices.

To do this, I have gone through a process of learning how to harvest and dye them, how to leech the salt content within the reeds to effect strong colour uptake. Through the process, the learnings and what is revealed provokes material memory, place and space.

The site where ACCA stands was once expansive wetlands that would have been filled with river reeds. For this new commission, in response to place, I started wondering about the micro systems in what is now a built environment. The ecosystems of wetland areas, seen and unseen.

Once I collected the river reeds I consulted and collaborated with the University of Melbourne’s Histology Platform with Chris Freelance, Laura Leone and Paul McMillan. Histology is part of biology, the study of microscopic structure of tissues and cells for research and study. The science can identify cells, and cell structures, using microscopes. These microscopes showed the river reeds at another level altogether.

The process involves a rehydrated river reed specimen that is encased in wax, and cut by a machine, to 200th of a millimetre. It then falls into water and is picked-up by a glass slide to then view through the microscope. A camera is connected to the microscope, that is connected to the computer, and a large screen, so you can immediately see the extraordinary complexity of this micro realm.

I prepared natural specimens, and also others by adding different dyes that create a whole range of colours (such as red and blue) that I can then see interacting at a cellular level – viewing the specimen using the polariser and five different lenses (the polariser changes the colour, and the lenses change the image again). Navigating worlds through the process, zooming in and out, the slightest movement changes everything. Making the invisible, visible.

Are you a morning or a night person? Both, I love waking up early and I do tend to work into the night.

Is there a sound or song that prompts a where or when for you? Van Morrison. I like to listen to him, takes me back to the good old Mildura days.

Is there something you’ve always collected? I collect everything, I’m bordering on being a hoarder, but I have to be in terms of my artwork because I need different objects and items for my photoshoots. I collect lots of things, and boots, lots of boots.

Where do you feel the most connected / where do you feel the most disconnected? I really feel connected in Melbourne. I love coming back home to Melbourne and up home on Country, Mildura near the river and the desert. Disconnected not so much anywhere. I think because I love to travel so much; you just have to make your space and place when you get there and make it your own wherever you are.

What scares you the most right now / what inspires you? What scares me right now? Nothing, really. What brings me hope is, I guess, the work that I am doing and sharing knowledge with my family and community, and hopefully inspiring that next generation. Recently my great nephew has been up in Ngukkurr with his mum and dad teaching possum skin cloak making. For them to go out and do that is pretty inspiring.

Through the process of making your new commission for Between Waves, what has been revealed and/or become more obscured? The visibility of the river reeds and just how beautiful they are. I have loved being able to go into the Histology department at Melbourne Uni, to meet these incredible people to make this new body of work was just amazing! And for people to see just how beautiful the microscopic river reed that was revealed to me through that lens. I saw unseen worlds that look like so many different things; nebulas, weavings, eyes, seascapes, brushstrokes, cobwebs, bubbles, chicken wire, coastlines, whole galaxies and more, and that’s a pretty mind-blowing experience, and one that I’m pretty excited to share with everyone.

born 1961, Swan Hill,
lives and works in Naarm, Victoria

Maree Clarke is a Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti, and Boon Wurrung woman from North-West Victoria, and a multidisciplinary visual artist. Clarke is a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost – or lying dormant – over the period of colonisation, as well as a leader in nurturing and promoting the diversity of contemporary southeast Aboriginal artists.

Clarke’s continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage has seen her revival of the traditions of possum skin cloak-making, body adornments and cultural objects in both traditional and contemporary materials. Additionally, her multimedia installations of photography including lenticular prints, 3D photographs and photographic holograms as well as painting, sculpture and video installation further explore the customary ceremonies, rituals and language of her ancestors.

Clarke has exhibited widely nationally and internationally in a range of contexts. In 2021, Clarke presented Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories, a major solo retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, that celebrated three decades of her creative and cultural output. Clarke has also featured extensively in a range of biennials and group exhibitions including Lorne Sculpture Biennale, Lorne, 2022; Tanarnthi: Festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery South Australia, Adelaide, 2022; The National: New Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2021; and Reversible Destiny, Tokyo Photographic Museum, Tokyo, Tokyo, 2021.

In 2023, Clarke was awarded the Yalingwa Artist Fellowship in recognition of her significant contribution to creative practice in the Indigenous arts community in Victoria, and in 2022 received a nomination for Victorian Australian of the year. She has also participated in numerous national and international artist residencies on invitation, most recently at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and at Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle USA.

Her work is held in major collecting institutions across Australia, as well as international collections including Monash University Art Collection, Prato Campus, Italy; Tokyo Photographic Museum, Tokyo; and Mount Holyoake College, Massachusetts, USA.

Maree Clarke is represented by Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.