Event details
Maree Clarke and megan evans are descendants from either side of the colonial frontier. Artists who have known each other for over 35 years they have worked together on projects over that time, most notably as co-curators at Wyndham Art Gallery, where they programmed prominent and provocative exhibitions for five years.
Clarke has spent over three decades reclaiming and reinterpreting traditions lost or lying dormant due to invasion/colonisation. Her work spans possum skin cloaks, kangaroo teeth and echidna quill adornments, and large-scale river reed necklaces, using both traditional and contemporary materials, organic, glass and 3D printing. Through multimedia installations, including photography, sculpture and video — she explores stories, ceremonies and the ongoing impact of colonisation. Clarke’s collaborative and intergenerational practice ensures cultural knowledge is passed on while engaging new audiences.
evans grew up on Wurundjeri land as a fifth generation Australian. Working across video, photography, sculpture and installation, evans investigates the impact of her ancestors, particularly her great grandmother, on the original owners of the land they occupied in the early 1800’s. evans’ late husband Les Griggs, was a Gunditjmara artist whose work focused on his life as a member of what became known as the Stolen Generation.
In dialogue for the first time through their artworks, these two artists unpack the impact of colonisation in a contemporary context. Their work powerfully counterpoints the two sides of the experience of colonisation – Maree’s work deals with the deep grief and intergenerational trauma while evans asks: how do we deal with the responsibility of being generationally complicit?
This exhibition brings a new way to view our shared cultures and histories: not as separate, but all a part of one timeline – a necessity for the healing of our people and our land.
Image: Detail from megan evans, ‘PARLOUR – Maree’, 2019, digital print on rag, 200 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
