Exhibition Dates
26 February > 24 May 2026
Exhibition Opening
Saturday 28 February 2026, 1 > 4PM
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair Accessible
Assistance
Animal
Visual
Rating 100%
Quiet
Space Available
As part of our 40th anniversary program, Linden New Art will present a significant new commission by leading Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung artist Maree Clarke, on the building’s façade.
Long Journey Home: We Are Still Here revisits an image from the artist’s iconic photographic series, overlaid with a hand-drawn map and microgram of river reed, referencing the act of Boonwurrung People welcoming guests onto Country, and ensuring their safe passage through. Clarke’s work powerfully embodies the enduring sovereignty of the Traditional Owners of the land on which Linden stands, and their deep connections to it, spanning tens of thousands of years. Covering the building’s heritage façade, the image renders its colonial history as a ghostly presence.
The image will be visible to gallery visitors and passersby alike, day and night, a clear statement of the ongoing strength of First Nations culture, both locally and globally.
This project has been supported by the Copyright Agency Limited and City of Port Phillip.
Maree Clarke is a pivotal figure in the reclamation
and promotion of south-east Australian Aboriginal art practices. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural
heritage has seen her revivification of traditional possum skin cloaks and her contemporary necklace designs using river reeds,
kangaroo teeth and echidna quills. Her multimedia installations including photography, sculpture and video further explore the
customary ceremonies and rituals of her Ancestors. Clarke has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, and in 2021 was the
subject of a major survey exhibition, Maree Clarke – Ancestral Memories, at the National Gallery of Victoria.
She also worked at Linden in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the City of Port Phillip’s Koori Arts Officer.