About

Fiona was born in Warrnambool in 1963 to Henry (Banjo) Clarke (dec) and Audrey Clarke (dec). Her clan is the Kirrae Whurrong of the the Western District of Victoria.

Fiona is the first Aboriginal in Australia to weave her own contemporary and Aboriginal designs on an upright tapestry loom.

For over 15 years Fiona has depicted her Aboriginal culture through the visual arts, including tapestry, painting and public art installations. Fiona has created tapestries and paintings using uncomplicated symbols, juxtaposed against rich earthy backgrounds and colours, producing rich, vibrant contemporary works of art.

Through the mediums of painting and tapestry her work displays a strong inner strength which she has carried throughout her life, having survived and beaten five major illnesses. At birth she had a condition known as ‘concrete arm’ and nearly lost her arm, but she has complete use of both her arms. She was also born with Grand Mal Epilepsy, with doctors predicting she wouldn’t live past 20 years old. She’s now almost 42 years old and hasn’t had a seizure for over seven years. When she was 6 years old she had diabetes, but no longer has it. In her teen years she contracted Tuberculosis, but fought and won that fight. More recently in 2002 she developed extensive ‘deep vein thrombosis.’ Two years later in 2004 she was examined and cleared.

That aside, through the medium of tapestry she creates images which have been influenced by her childhood experiences of looking for tucker, especially fishing, but which have also been influenced by traditional Aboriginal designs.

Her paintings in contrast, particularly her most recent work, have a more narrative content and reflect stories and experiences told by her father Banjo Clarke, (dec), Aboriginal elder of the Kirrae Whurrong. Those stories and experiences have been told to her by Banjo and recorded in a biography of Banjo’s life titled, “Wisdom Man,” written by Camilla Chance.

From the two mediums above Fiona has diversified her talents and transposed them into the public art arena, where she was commissioned in 2001 by internationally renowned New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth, to engrave one of her designs onto his rock sculpture, ‘Strata’ which now stands in the AXA Plaza, Little Collins Street, Melbourne. More recently in 2003 she completed a sculpture of her own, (in collaboration with her husband and artist Ken McKean). Commissioned by the City of Melbourne, the sculpture, titled ‘Eel Trap’ is made of steel and currently stands in Birrarung Marr Park beside the Yarra River, behind Federation Square.