Mayor opens NAIDOC exhibit

Ararat mayor Gwenda Allgood and councillors Fay Hull and Frank Deutsch opened the 2018 Lake Bolac NAIDOC Week Art Exhibition at Lake Bolac Information Centre.

Cr Allgood expressed her pleasure in opening the exhibition, organised by Lake Bolac Eel Festival representatives, adding she was pleased Ararat Rural City Council could provide support for the project.

She also congratulated the festival on winning the Recon- ciliation Victoria HART Community Award last month.

This year’s NAIDOC Week exhibition, the fourth at Lake Bolac, features the work of western Victorian Aboriginal artist Fiona Clarke with supporting work by her daughter and RMIT University art student Tricia Mckean.

Clarke is a member of the Kirrae Whurrong clan and has been depicting her culture through visual arts including painting, tapestry, public art and children’s books for more than 25 years.

Most recently, Warrnambool Art Gallery commissioned her to produce her ‘Seven Sisters’ exhibition and Cricket Australia also used her ‘Walkabout Wickets’ design.

Clarke’s painting ‘The Eels Return’ featured on a 2006 eel festival poster and she helped redesign the eel festival logo.

Mckean designed Richmond Football Club’s 2016 Dreamtime jumper.