MAREE CLARKE & MITCH MAHONEY’S TAPESTRY FOR THE NEW FOOTSCRAY HOSPITAL

We’re one step closer to seeing the Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney’s Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible tapestry in the new Footscray Hospital.

A trial hang took place at the Melbourne Convention Centre before the tapestry finds its permanent home in the hospital in the coming months.

Weighing 135kg and made of 27Okm of wool, the team successfully suspended the 42-square metre tapestry for onlookers to see it in its full form.

Designed by Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung) and Mitch Mahoney (Boonwurrung/Barkindji), the tapestry was weaved by a team of 12 at the Australian Tapestry Workshop.

The three-dimensional tapestry is one of the largest ever produced for a public hospital in Victoria and will welcome patients, staff, and visitors when the hospital opens in 2O26.

The new Footscray Hospital tapestry is a collaboration between Plenary Health, the official arts partner for the new hospital, Footscray Community Arts, the Australian Tapestry Workshop, and the Tapestry Foundation of Australia, in collaboration with the Victorian Health Building Authority and Western Health.

The tapestry commission is supported by the Premier’s Suite, a partnership between the Tapestry Foundation of Australia, the State G

Image: Maree Clarke & Mitch Mahoney, Welcome to Country – now you see me: seeing the invisible,
2O24-25, tapestry, 4.2 x 1O m. Image courtesy of Astrid Mulder.