From archives to art

On Friday 3 October 2025, renowned artist Maree Clarke paid a visit to the Victorian Archives Centre (VAC) for an unforgettable afternoon of storytelling, cultural revival, and creative insight. A Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung woman, Maree, who grew up in North West Victoria, has spent over three decades weaving together history, memory, and art in Melbourne. Her practice is deeply rooted in research – drawing from cultural artefacts and history to reawaken cultural traditions that have long been dormant. 

Hosted by Elissa Sanchez Access Services Officer at the Victorian and Ballarat Archives Centres’, the event was the highlight of History Month. 

“When I was given the opportunity to invite an artist to speak at the Victorian Archives Centre, I chose Maree Clarke because she is a truly amazing female artist,” Elissa said. “Her body of work speaks to you on an emotional and intellectual level. I love the way she uses archival pieces, colour, texture and different mediums to share stories of Australian Aboriginal culture and tradition that words alone cannot tell. Her work weaves together country and story, artist and image, archive and art.”
 

Maree’s presentation impressed upon the 70 strong audience the importance of passing on cultural knowledge. Much of her work is about recreating items and objects held in museums and archives and employing the cultural methods that sometimes haven’t been practiced in generations. 

Kangaroo tooth necklaces

Maree started her artistic journey in Mildura with jewellery. She would paint on wood to create contemporary brooches and earrings. Historical research into museum collections and photographs soon led to her interest in kangaroo tooth necklaces. 

“It was through researching those kangaroo necklaces in museum collections, and then taking my family out on Country, stopping at every dead kangaroo, and pulling their teeth out…the kangaroo only has the two bottom incisor teeth that I can use in these necklaces. So, when you’re making a 75-tooth kangaroo necklace, that’s a lot of teeth, it’s a lot of roos,” Maree shared.

She went on to replicate kangaroo tooth necklaces in glass for an exhibition in collaboration with her nephew Mitch Mahoney for the Canberra Glassworks. A 3D printed gold-plated tooth followed as part of her wearable jewellery range with the NGV.

Throughout her presentation at the Archives, Maree shared insights into collaboration and the process of pulling together a collection or exhibition, including collecting the right materials in time for showing.
 

Collaboration and craft

Maree spoke candidly about the realities of creating large-scale exhibitions. Joining forces with Simone LeAmon for Melbourne Design Week at the National Gallery of Victoria, Maree created an entire jewellery collection. She began with drawings on paper to design what they wanted the pieces to look like before collecting materials and pulling them all together. This culminated in a diverse array of materials: kangaroo teeth, feathers, echidna quills, and more.  

“I had 3D printed the 18-karat gold plated teeth, and other kangaroo teeth, feathers, echidna quills, and a whole range of things…and the day before we were ready to put the collection together, we’d run out of kangaroo sinew. So, we basically got in the car, drove up the Hume, got near Seymour, there was a fresh dead roo right on the corner off the turn-off,” she said.

“They’re the sorts of things you have to do,” she emphasised.

From there, Maree delved into the beauty of river reeds.

River reeds and the scale of loss

Maree has seen Aboriginal river reed necklaces in collections not just in Australia, but the UK as well. Particularly inspired by a river reed necklace in the Museum Victoria collection, as well as an 1862 necklace held by the Canberra Museum and Gallery, Maree embarked on multiple projects to create 50 metre river reed necklaces of her own.

“The scale of the 50 metres is to talk about the scale of the loss of land, language and cultural practices.”

Her river reed and kangaroo tooth necklaces have featured in Vogue’s Indigenous edition, exhibited at the National Gallery, and reimagined in glass fabrications at Canberra Glassworks.

Most recently, Maree designed a Melbourne art tram using photographs and colourful microscopic images of river reed necklaces. 
 

Textiles with depth 

Those same microscopic images of river reeds also formed part of her textile work for Footscray Hospital. Maree completed a colourful and vibrant image to be used alongside her nephew’s waterways design. This was then turned into a 10 by 4.2 metre tapestry by the Australian Tapestry Workshop.

“We had about 12 weavers working for 14 months on the two looms,” Maree said. “Each (loom) is 5 metres by 4.2, and it’s just the most incredible, beautiful, beautiful thing.”
 

In a first for the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Maree requested that the tapestry be left fluffy on the inside. 

“This is the first time the Australian Tapestry Workshop have made a 3D tapestry because normally they sew black material to the back and it’s flat against the wall. I asked them if they could leave the inside fluffy so people could see it, because it’s just as beautiful as the outside.”

A test hang was completed before its install at Footscray. 

Stay connected 

These were just some of the incredible art pieces, materials, and stories Maree Clarke shared with us during History Month at the Victorian Archives Centre. Her practice reminds us that archives are not just repositories of the past, they are living sources of inspiration, connection, and cultural renewal. 

To explore more of Maree’s work, visit the Vivien Anderson Gallery website.

We regularly hold talks and exhibitions at the Archives Centre. To stay in the loop and receive invitations to fascinating events such as this one, be sure to subscribe to our Despatch eNewsletter. 

A heartfelt thank you to Maree for an evocative afternoon exploring the intersections between art and archival collections.