The title of Danie Mellor’s latest exhibition gives an indication of the reflective, meditative tone with which this multidisciplinary artist explores certain questions that have preoccupied him for much of his career. Over the years, Bowral-based Mellor’s work has examined his Ngadjon-jii, Mamu and Anglo-Celtic ancestry from numerous angles, offering a soulful and thought-provoking treatment of the intersection between personal memory and the legacies of colonisation.
marru | the unseen visible features painting, photography and video, all of which has been created in the last five years. Marru translates as “becoming visible” in Mellor’s ancestral Dyirbal language (of Far North Queensland), tying into a theme of gentle, slow illumination regarding both the complexities of history and social harmony in contemporary Australia. Mellor says the show is about “acknowledging the quieter, hidden or less obvious relationships between Aboriginal people and settler culture and people. This exploration is reflective of my own ancestry, and the acceptance of difference along with recognition of the experiences we share.”
Photography remains particularly central to Mellor’s work, with several pieces adapting and reimagining old family photos, historical archival imagery and photos Mellor has taken. Fitting into this concept is the exhibition highlight, Wall of the Living, 2024, a series of tondos showing images based on scans of Mellor’s own skull. A provocative work maybe, but this too is intended as a statement of unity and common experience—in this case, addressing mortality.
“I was somewhat aware that a wall of skulls might suggest and be read as a reference to massacres or atrocities,” says Mellor, “but my intention was to show the reverse. Death is a means by which to remember life and the installation reveals, through its reflections, something limitless.”
Danie Mellor: marru | the unseen visible
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Until 3 August
This article was originally published in the July/August 2025 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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