Maree Clarke

Maree’s inclusive approach to art practices – where art and culture are inseparable to all other aspects of life, has seen her involved in working with many members of the Aboriginal and wider community. The capacity for art to enable people to reconnect with their cultural heritage and to assist in their recovery remains central to Maree’s philosophy concerning the power of art to heal and inspire people to positively identify with their Aboriginality, a process that for some continues to be difficult given the ongoing negative effects of colonisation.

Maree continues to curate exhibitions showcasing the development of contemporary southeast Australian Aboriginal art and culture and remains one of the key figures today in the story of southeast Australian Aboriginal art and the practice of cultural reclamation.

Peter Waples-Crowe

Peter Waples-Crowe is a Ngarigo visual and performance-based artist living in Melbourne. His intersecting experiences as an Aboriginal person and his work with community health and arts organisations give him a unique perspective as an artist and community cultural development worker.

Waples-Crowe creates bold colourful work that explores the representation of Aboriginal people in popular culture, often referencing the dingo as a totemic figure and an analogy for Indigenous peoples.

Emma Bamblett

Emma Bamblett is a proud Aboriginal women with connections to the Wemba Wemba, Gunditjmara, Ngadjonji and Taungurung people. She is from Echuca on the Murray River. Emma’s painting style is contemporary. She paints in layers and sections, and she likes to make connections between the different parts of the canvas. She likes her paintings to be easy to read so the symbols are not hard to interpret.

Emma has been a practicing painting with acrylic since 2006 after being inspired as a child by her Aunt Barbara Egan who lives in Robinvale. Emma watched her aunt work and shared conversations about artistic ideas and processes and how to market yourself.