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 its 40th anniversary program, Linden New Art presents 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 of the same name, in which members of Clarke’s family are presented standing on the shore of Port Phillip Bay, wearing traditional possum-skin cloaks and white river clay painted on their faces. Clarke has overlaid the image with a hand-drawn map and micrograph of river reed, referencing the act of Boonwurrung People welcoming guests onto Country, and ensuring their safe passage.
Through its re-enactment of a scene from pre-invasion Melbourne, Clarke’s work powerfully embodies the enduring sovereignty of the Boonwurrung People, as Traditional Owners of the land on which Linden New Art stands, and their deep connection to it, over tens of thousands of years.
Installed in front of Linden’s heritage façade, Clarke’s artwork renders the building’s colonial history as a ghostly presence. Importantly, the image is visible to gallery visitors and passersby alike, day and night, a clear statement of the ongoing strength and resilience of First Nations people and culture.
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. The artist also worked at Linden during the mid 1990s, where she established the City of Port Phillip’s Koorie Arts Unit.
This project has been supported by the Copyright Agency Limited; and City of Port Phillip through its Cultural Development Fund.
