Danie Mellor’s multidisciplinary art practice explores Australia’s shared history through the lens of his Ngadjon-jii, Mamu and Anglo-Celtic ancestry and ongoing connection to Country in the Atherton Tablelands and rainforests of far north Queensland.
‘marru | the unseen visible’ brings together works examining memory and remembrance; the relationship between First Nations people, culture and Country; and the environmental and social impact of colonial history.
‘marru’ translates as ‘becoming visible’ in the Dyirbal language of Mellor’s matrilineal ancestors. His recomposed scenes meld archival and contemporary source imagery, reimagining historical pictorial records through painting, photography and moving image. In doing so, Mellor presents new ways of looking and visualises the unseeable and unseen.
Image: Danie Mellor, Ngadjon-jii/Mamu peoples, Australia b.1971 / Dark star waterfall (still) 2025 / Two-channel video projection: 16:9, colour, sound, 24 minutes; historic footage and images: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Queensland State Archives, State Library of Queensland / © Danie Mellor / This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body through a VACS Major Commissioning project / Courtesy: The artist and Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne /
