now you see me: seeing the invisible #2
Embark on a mesmerising journey into the hidden depths of a microscopic world with Maree Clarke’s captivating video artwork on the Big Screen. Explore the profound material memory, intricate space, and place as Maree unveils the extraordinary complexity of river reeds through a process of scientific collaboration. Witness the invisible becoming visible before your eyes.
Artist statement
Traditionally, river reed necklaces were made and gifted for safety and friendship. I have been working with river reeds since 2014, making supersized necklaces to talk about the enormity of loss of land, language and cultural practices. To do this, I have gone through a process of learning how to harvest them and dye them, in particular how to leech the salt content within the reeds to effect strong colour uptake.
The learnings through the process and what is revealed provokes material memory; place and space. The site where ACCA is, 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 of place, 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. In particular, Chris, Laura and Paul. 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 powerful electron microscopes. It showed the river reeds at another level altogether.
The process: rehydrate specimen in wax, machine slice the river reed to 200th of a millimetre, so you can see it under the microscope, falls into water, pick up with glass slide, dye (red and blue to create a range of colours interacting at a cellular level), using the polariser and five different lenses… 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.
The microscope is connected to the computer, and a large screen, so you can immediately see the extraordinary complexity of this micro realm. Making the invisible, visible.
About the artist
Maree Clarke is a Mutti Mutti, Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta and Boonwurrung artist. Maree is a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost – or laying dormant – over the period of colonisation, as well as a leader in nurturing and promoting the diversity of contemporary southeast Aboriginal artists.
Maree’s continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage has seen her revification of the traditional possum skin cloaks, together with the production of contemporary designs of kangaroo teeth necklaces, river reed necklaces and string headbands adorned with kangaroo teeth and echidna quills, in both traditional and contemporary materials such as glass and 3D printing.
Maree Clarke’s multi-media 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 and reveal her long held ambitions to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue about the ongoing effects of colonisation, while simultaneously providing space for the Aboriginal community to engage with and ‘mourn’ the impact of dispossession and loss.
She is represented by Vivien Anderson Gallery.
now you see me: seeing the invisible #2 is a co-commission between Fed Square and the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art as part of Between Waves, an exhibition at ACCA 1 July–3 September 2023.