Aboriginal artist Maree Clarke's large-scale art will grace five Melbourne train stations

Artist Maree Clarke remembers her childhood growing up near Balranald and Robinvale. Image: Victorian Government.

Maree Clarke is an artist, curator and educator, as well as being a First Nations woman from the Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti and Boonwurrung Nations.

An internationally applauded artist, Ms Clark has been engaged by the Victorian Government to create Tracks, an artwork that spans five of Melbourne’s inner city train stations.

The artwork is a mosaic of native plants and the tracks of Australian animals.

Each piece of Tracks is being hand-finished and assembled, and will be completed in time for the opening of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel in 2025.

In an important announcement earlier in the year, the City of Melbourne has appointed Ms Clarke to commission, design and deliver works for the Stolen Generations Marker, which will be installed alongside the Yarra River / Birrarung.

Born in Swan Hill, Ms Clarke recalled her childhood living near Balranald, on SBS Tv’s ‘Dig Deeper’ program, profiling Aboriginal artists.

“My family and I lived in a tent behind the Balranald Mission and my bed was a suitcase,” Ms Clarke recalled.

“All the losses. All the happiness. I think I channel all of that into my artwork.

“We’re always creating new stories but we’re always looking back… to keep our Culture alive. So I’m always thinking about new ways to tell stories.”

Ms Clarke and her family of eleven children lived at Munatunga Mission near Robinvale before settling in Mildura and her series of layered photographs capture the Balranald landscape she remembers.

Ms Clarke is described as a multidisciplinary artist and creates photographs, prints, sculpture, jewellery, video and glass, and her works have been exhibited across the globe, including the National Gallery and Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. Her jewellery has been featured in Vogue Magazine.

In 2023 Ms Clarke was a finalist for the Victorian Australian of the year and was a recipient of the Australia Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship in 2020.