MARAM BARERARERUNGAR – WEARING COUNTRY (BOON WURRUNG LANGUAGE) IS A NEW JEWELLERY COLLABORATION BETWEEN SENIOR FIRST NATIONS ARTIST MAREE CLARKE AND THE AUSTRALIAN WORLD-RENOWNED JEWELLERY CREATOR WORKING IN GLASS, BLANCHE TILDEN.

In 2018 Blanche Tilden worked with Maree Clarke to assemble a jewellery range sold exclusively through the National Gallery of Victoria as part of Melbourne Design Week. Consisting of beautiful 3D printed crow feathers, supersized echidna quills, and gold plated Kangaroo teeth threaded on snake chain, the entire range sold out.

Blanche’s exquisite sense of wearable art was a perfect union with Maree Clarkes 30-year history of creating jewellery from natural materials in a manner worn by her ancestors. Consequently, Blanche and Maree began to discuss a collaboration, a unique limited-edition range of wearable art, fully calibrated to celebrate each of their unique strengths.

The result is Maram Barerarerungar – Wearing Country.

MAREE CLARKE IS A YORTA YORTA/WAMBA WAMBA/MUTTI MUTTI/BOONWURRUNG WOMAN WHO GREW UP IN NORTHWEST VICTORIA, MAINLY IN MILDURA, ON THE BANKS OF THE MURRAY RIVER.

Maree has been a practicing artist living and working in Melbourne for the last three decades. Maree Clarke is a pivotal figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost – or lying dormant – over the period of colonisation. Maree is known for her open and collaborative approach to cultural practice.

Maree’s continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage has seen her revification of the traditional possum skin cloaks, contemporary designs of kangaroo teeth necklaces, river reed necklaces and multimedia installations of photography including lenticular prints, 3D photographs and photographic holograms as well as painting, sculpture and video installation. Maree Clarke was awarded the Linewide Commission for the Metro Tunnel project (current) and is the recipient of the 2020 Australia Council Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship. Her major survey exhibition Ancestral Memories was the first major survey by a living Indigenous artist with connections to the country on which the gallery stands at the National Gallery of Victoria.

BLANCHE TILDEN IS A WORLD-RENOWNED JEWELLERY CREATOR WORKING IN GLASS.

Tilden has a unique approach to her materials, glass, which she explores both as a material for jewellery making and deploys as a metaphor for the connections between making, industry, the wearable object, and the body. Her fascination with mechanical devices, fuelled by a desire to understand how things work, continually inspires her work.

Most recently Blanche has worked closely with First Nations men and women as a mentor conducting intensive studio sessions in collaboration with RMIT and the Koorie Heritage Trust to enhance each artists insight into the elements that make good design beautiful and wearable.

Currently Blanche’s remarkable 25-year survey, Ripple Effect is touring nationally.