'Us' examines our affinity for collecting

Why do humans assign value and meaning to certain miscellanea? This is the question that Newcastle-based artist, Gillian Bencke, sought to unpack in her latest art exhibition, ‘Us’, which is on exhibiton in Gallery 2 of the Wangaratta Art Gallery until 14 September. Fascinated by humankind’s instinct to collect, preserve and exhibit artefacts, Gillian has presented a variety of installations examining this phenomenon. “This collection started out of wanting to make lots of small works,” Gillian said. “Generally my work is quite small, and I love the repetition in work... it’s a little bit like a study really, you just kind of sketch around and play around with one idea. In ‘Us’, her curiosity toward collecting is portrayed through Gillian’s textile-based practice, creating a display of works that weave in her own art style of smaller works to paint a bigger picture. “Particularly with ‘Array’, I wanted to make little wearable things that just said something that was maybe a bit funny or a bit political or a thought that I wanted to express urgently,” she said. “As I made these works, I started to think about why we collect, what we collect, the stuff we have in our homes, the things we have in our museums and also the responsibility around those collections and what they mean, what they meant, and how we feel about those now. “Some of those collections are quite difficult now; and where they are in the world - they’re not always in the place they should be.” At it’s core, her display of works examines the ways in which we assign value to certain objects. “When you collect something, you’re giving value to it,” she said. “We can decide as a collective whether we should apportion value in a different way “A vessel that’s come out of the ground that’s thousands of years old gets put back together - it’s fascinating. “It tells you about people and we’re all really the same still. “Is that more valuable than something else that is from a culture that hasn’t been given the same care of interest as maybe a Greek urn?” This concept is underscored through her use of repurposed, upcycled textiles, which are shaped into various sizes of semicircles inspired by a liturgical garment. This particular shape is prominent across her other works as well, and inspired the name ‘Array’. “I really liked the idea that this shape had served the same kind of purpose for hundreds of years,” she said. “Then I just started making little brooches... now they’re just a collection. “I liked the idea that it’s a very simplistic shape of a butterfly. As well as collecting, Gillian said she wanted to incorporate in ideologies such as patriarchalism and colonialism, pillars of the social system we live in, tying in the concept of deaccession - which refers to the removal of an item from a library, museum, or art gallery. “It works in capitalism and things like that and those things that maybe we want to un-collect... deaccession,” she said. “I think that is a really fascinating concept for me as a white woman as well, thinking about that and my place in 2025 I suppose, but all of us.” In particular, she used all sorts of materials from the op shop, some of which were adorned with embroidery. “It’s honouring (those materials) as well,” she said. “There’s some little pieces in there that are so flower-y and feminine which is really beautiful. “But I also sort of look at some of them and just think that these women had such skill. “I know they were given this ‘women’s’ work so they don’t worry about the power that is happening around them that they couldn’t enter into because they were forbidden it.” In her other installation, ‘Charmed’, Gillian said she drew on the collecting nature of a charm bracelet, little mementos of your life. “You fill it with things like your achievements or your travels or someone might give one to you for your 16th birthday - you add to it,” she said. She once again weaved in that idea of a woman’s expectation, with the charms telling a story of a woman who finds love, enters marriage, lives in a house. “It’s not that any of those things are bad, it’s just that there’s this expectation,” she said. “That’s why it’s called ‘Charmed’, the idea of a charmed life - what is that, really? “Sometimes behind that, it’s quite sad or quite heavy. “It’s oversized, it’s unwearable... you can’t wear that.”

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