Aunty Marlene Gilson, OAM, Wathaurung/Wadawurrung Elder
Title of artwork: All Nations
Artist: Aunty Marlene Gilson, OAM, Wathaurung/Wadawurrung Elder
Year: 2024
Medium: Acrylic on linen (original). Reproduced as print on aluminium
Size: 150 x 120cm (original) 160 x 200cm (print)
Artist Statement
"My painting depicts the Ballarat goldfields, a place I love. It was hard for our ancestors as the food source began to disappear after settlement. The new arrivals, consisting of many different nations, came for gold and made Ballarat their home."
About the Artist
Gilson’s multi-figure paintings work to overturn the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and re-contextualising the representation of historical events.
Learning her Wathaurung history from her grandmother, Gilson began painting while recovering from an illness. The artist’s meticulously rendered works display a narrative richness and theatrical quality akin to the traditional genre of history painting.
Gilson, however, privileges those stories relating to her ancestral land, including Ballarat, Werribee, Geelong and Skipton.
Often including her two totems, Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow, Gilson’s paintings not only reconfigure historical narratives, but display her spiritual connection to country.
In 2024, a career highlight for Gilson was exhibiting as one of only three Aboriginal artists invited to represent Australia in the Venice Biennale. The Biennale is the pinnacle of the worldwide artworld. After which, she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia, included in the King’s birthday honours list.