Ancestral MemoryMaree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney
A Spirit Eel slithers across the façade of Hamer Hall, connecting time and place.
On its mysterious journey, the eel crosses land, river and sea, taking on many forms on its path to maturity. For the peoples of the Kulin Nation the eel is a protector spirit, food source, seasonal marker and timekeeper; the metaphor of the Spirit Eel connects time and place, a story of resilience and adaptation that has been pushed below the surface but never lost.
Ancestral Memory is a physical manifestation of the Spirit Eel, a huge digital projection weaving its way across the façade of Hamer Hall, by interdisciplinary artists Maree Clarke (Mutti Mutti/Yorta Yorta/BoonWurrung) and Mitch Mahoney (BoonWurrung/Barkinji).
Maree’s work explores the customary ceremonies, rituals and language of her ancestors and reveals her long held ambitions to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue about the ongoing effects of colonisation. For Ancestral Memory Maree collaborates with her nephew Mitch, an artist whose own work specialises in the revitalisation of South-Eastern First Peoples practices, to further those ambitions across generations.
Image: Maree Clarke, 'Ancestral Memory' 2019 Blown and coldworked glass and steel Courtesy Canberra Glassworks