Marlene Gilson is a Wathaurung/ Wadawurrung Elder and Traditional Owner whose contemporary painting practice is marked by a meticulous attention to detail. Gilson’s paintings redress the art historical record that has rendered Aboriginal people, communities, and culture absent. Her expansive and panoramic desert, beach, and bush landscapes open up highly detailed and culturally rich portals into the past, filled with her signature characters going about their day-to-day lives. Throughout her work, Gilson highlights Wathaurung/ Wadawurrung involvement in historical events. These include the Eureka Stockade (1854) and interactions between First Nations people and immigrants from other cultures, including William Buckley (1780–1856), an escaped British convict who lived with Wathaurung/Wadawurrung people for thirty-two years before returning to colonial society, and the Afghan cameleers. Significant cultural sites such as Moorabool Falls, related to Bunjil, the ancestral creator of the Kulin nation, are also featured. By asserting the presence of her Wathaurung/ Wadawurrung ancestors and cultural signifiers, Gilson’s paintings function as a form of personal truth-telling. She explains: “Each brushstroke contributes to placing my family history on the world map and back into the history books”.
This is the first time the work of Marlene Gilson is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Jessica Clark
