Maree Clarke: reflections on creative practice, place and identity

I am connected to the Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti and Boonurong people through my heritage. My connection to these four language groups provides the framework for my arts practice research project. Totems are an important component of my work. Totems govern life in Koori tribal language groups. For example, they dictate who you can talk to and marry, and govern rights for making art, including men's business and women's business. This translates as 'Lore' in Koori culture. Lore is a Koori term meaning a way of being that encompasses kinship systems, responsibilities, and beliefs, as they interconnect with a particular area of country. In the past, when the Museum acquired Aboriginal artefacts, they sometimes did not record all the details. This meant there was then a break in the knowledge. Aboriginal people have our own collection of artefacts in various cultural institutions, but we do not have that layer of information about what the designs were about. The totems are not necessarily in the designs on the shields and artefacts. They are generally designs relating to those different areas. Gunnai/Kurnai can be quite different to Latje Latje, for example. Some of the designs on the banners may represent the totems. This can reflect an artist's interpretation of the meanings within such designs. My work incorporates a re-interpretation of a range of different totems connected to the language groups I have a blood connection to