Welcome to Barerarerungar

Maree Clarke

12th apr – 28th jul 2024

curated by Valentina Gensini and Renata Summo O’Connell

Maree Clarke, a descendant of the Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba and Boon Wurrung, is an Australian indigenous artist who, celebrating the continuity with her culture and history, opens up innovative artistic spaces. Maree’s presence in Florence with her site-specific artistic project created during her residency at MAD is of great significance, as she engages with the city through her multiple installations in the ancient prisons and initiates a conversation with European colonial history through her installation at the Anthropological Museum.

Maree’s highly contemporary multimedia work finds its innovative visual language in the recovery of lost practices of Indigenous Australians from the southeast. The artist’s production in Florence began along the Arno, creating necklaces of river reeds, a symbol of safe passage and friendship in the tradition of Australian indigenous. These necklaces, traditionally worn during tribal journeys, now have immense significance in the exhibition Welcome to Barerarerungar in Florence. This ancestral practice, in which the reeds are dyed and intertwined with feathers, connects the Arno River and its city to a distant culture in a very special way, spanning ages and hemispheres, in a generous act of welcome.

The exhibition begins in the courtyard of MAD in Piazza delle Murate, encompassing all the walls of the surrounding buildings, and inside the historic cells: projections, large installations, photographs, and more, aim to honor painful themes such as lost land, languages, and cultural practices, while simultaneously opening her rich world to us, in a kind and open invitation to learn, understand, and respect the traditions of the oldest culture in the world.

For more information
+39 055 2476873
info.mad@musefirenze.it