Artist spotlight talks

Join a spotlight talk and hear from three artists in The National 2021: New Australian Art. Artists Maree Clarke, Sancintya Mohini Simpson and Sally Smart will each share about their practice and new work in the exhibition, in conversation with MCA Chief Curator Rachel Kent.
There is limited capacity at this event and spaces will be secured on a first-arrivals basis.

About the artists

Maree Clarke
Maree Clarke is a pivotal figure in the reclamation and promotion of south-east Australian Aboriginal art practices. Her continuing desire to affirm and reconnect with her cultural heritage has seen her revivification of traditional possum skin cloaks and her contemporary necklace designs using river reeds, kangaroo teeth and echidna quills. Her multimedia installations including photography, sculpture and video further explore the customary ceremonies and rituals of her Ancestors.

Sancintya Mohini Simpson
Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist and researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. She is a descendent of indentured labourers sent from India to work on colonial sugar plantations in South Africa. Her work navigates the complexities of migration, memory and trauma through addressing gaps and silences within the colonial archive, moving between painting, video, poetry and performance to develop narratives and rituals. Her practice is grounded in collaboration and community engagement, connecting wider narratives surrounding descendants of indenture and their diaspora communities.

Sally Smart
Sally Smart’s practice considers the ways in which identity politics and transnational ideas shape global culture and are expressed in the body. Her interest in female representation is enacted through textile treatments and collage for large-scale installations, as well as video, performance, sculpture and painting.

The National 2021: New Australian Art is the 3rd edition of the exhibition and curated by MCA Chief Curator Rachel Kent.