Fiona Clarke Bio 2019
Note: Currently Exhibiting at the Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, 3000
Born in Warrnambool, South West Victoria 1963 Fiona is a Gunditjmara Kirrae Whurrong Aboriginal woman. Fiona has strong links with the Kulin Nation via her Great Great Grandmother Louisa Briggs who was a Boon Wurrung woman but live on the Coranderrk Station with the Wurundjeri people.
For over 35 years Fiona has depicted her Aboriginal culture through the visual arts, including tapestry, painting, public art and through children’s literature. Fiona has created a variety of artworks using uncomplicated symbols, juxtaposed against rich earthy backgrounds and colours, producing vibrant contemporary works of art.
Today she is quite well known, and her work is in collections nationally and internationally. More recently her focus is on public arts and has been commissioned to create works, in Warrnambool, Colac, Camperdown, Terang, and Melbourne, most recently being selected for 2 large public art projects for the new Wyndham Law Courts.
Fiona's artwork, 'Walkabout Wickets' is regularly proudly worn on uniforms by the Men's and Women's Australian Cricket teams. In 2016 Cricket Australia chose Fiona’s design, ‘Walkabout Wickets’ to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Aboriginal XI Cricket team to play at the MCG. One of those players was Fiona’s Great, Great Grandfather James Couzens. Another player in this team was her Great Great Uncle John Couzens.
Fiona's art is on display across Melbourne and regional Victoria via public art in the form of Murals, sculpture and embedment in concrete and ground surfaces.
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