Us

Newcastle based artist Gillian Bencke’s work re-imagines commonly collected items – ephemera, keepsakes, heirlooms from personal and institutional collections through a textile-based practice. Interested in how individuals and communities collect, preserve and exhibit artefacts, her work examines how we, as a society, define and reinforce culture and assign value and meaning to material objects. Working across sculpture and installation, Bencke’s practice involves unmaking objects and then making them anew adding details of embroidery and applique, focussing on the different ways that certain objects become emblematic, iconic and elevated from their original function and former use.