Claudine Marzik, Undara Paintings, installation view, NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, 2023. Photo: Michael Marzik. Courtesy: the artist and NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns.

Swiss-born, Cairns-based artist Claudine Marzik’s research on Ewamian Country has fostered deep investigation of the ancient lava tubes and cavernous rock formations within Undara Volcanic National Park, located in the centre of lower Cape York, between Cairns and Normanton. The name Undara in local Aboriginal dialects means ‘Long Way’ referencing to a long way from Cairns and the elongated rivers of lava that meandered through the valley over 190,000 years ago.

Marzik’s Undara Paintings respond to the awe and wonder of this landscape, referencing the voids shaped by volcanic eruption, the pattern, deposition, graffiti and textures, appearing on the ceiling and the walls and speleothem continually accumulating. The layers of the canvas surface reworked and layered like strata.

Marzik has been making and exhibiting work inspired by the unique environment of Far North Queensland for more than three decades. Undara Paintings represents an important exhibition in the artist’s career.

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