Interstices by Helen Britton

Artist list

Helen Britton

Born in Western Australia and now residing in Munich, Britton has developed an international reputation for her innovative practice as a contemporary artist working in the fields of jewellery, drawing and installation.

Britton meticulously constructs her work from metals, glass, precious stones and found components. Pieces can now be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, The National Gallery of Australia, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, and many more galleries and museums around the world.

UWA Chief Cultural Officer, Professor Ted Snell said, Britton is herself in between, rooted in both Germany and Australia.  Her work is a meditation on her own history as she engages with artefacts and environments that act as powerful triggers.

Germany’s weight of history stabilizes, while Australia generates a sense of urgency and of making do. Australia’s history can only be borrowed from those that have lived here for millennia; it is a place that requires re-forming and re-imagining to make it your own.

In Australia, Britton draws from the Western Australian coastal environment and its openness as a space for reflection and inspiration. Over the past two decades she has created a small series of private works on regular visits to Western Australia. Helen Britton: Interstices will be the first time they will all be shown together in the context of a new body of work that interprets this activity from the distance of her studio in Munich.

Inspired by the history of popular culture, Britton creates works that trigger memory.  In examining these finely crafted objects, or experiencing the atmosphere of the exhibition scenography, you discover forms that resonate, establishing a dialogue between artist, object, space and observer.

Professor Snell said, Britton’s studio is a Wunderkammer, a room of marvels where worlds collide, and meanings proliferate. In this charged space of focused inquisitiveness, analytical investigation and passionate engagement she seeks out the exotic, the elemental and the esoteric with childlike wonder, determined to know more, to understand and to embrace what she encounters.
Once her works leave the studio all interpretations are open and each becomes re-activated through our engagement as wearers, participants and viewers.
Examining these finely crafted objects we seek out the codes that resonate.  For some this requires a forensic investigate of the structure that holds the elements together, while for others it is detailed analysis of the component parts and their interconnections that provides meaning.

We are open to their histories and each of us brings our own narratives to play as we enter into multifaceted dialogue.
This is the moment of transfiguration!


To accompany the exhibition the catalogue "Interstices" will also be released. This catalogue covers the last 7 years of Helen Britton's work and is the third in Helen's catalogue series. The Catalogue includes Essays from Ted Snell and Robert Cook, and texts from Helen Britton.


The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery is one of Western Australia’s premier public art institutions. Located within the University of Western Australia’s scenic grounds, the gallery offers four seasons each year of innovative and varied exhibitions that feature contemporary and historic art from WA and the world. This includes work from the university’s extensive collection, a year-round program of Aboriginal art from the Berndt Museum, and exhibitions from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art – the nation’s only public collection of art by Australian women.
 
All of our exhibitions are accompanied by a calendar of public program, academic and family-orientated events. Once at the gallery you can get the most out of your visit with free printed programs and access to our LWAG+ app, which prompts you with information about artworks as you approach them.
 
OPEN 11am-5pm, TUESDAY-Saturday
ENTRY IS FREE


The University of Western Australia (UWA) is one of Australia’s leading universities and has an international reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and research. 
 
With almost 24,000 students, it employs a model of broad undergraduate studies followed by postgraduate professional qualifications designed to produce well-rounded graduates, as well as provide additional entry opportunities for a wider range of students.
 
As Western Australia's premier university, UWA was equal first overall in Australia based on key measures in the Good Universities Guide 2014 including student demand, graduate outcomes, graduate starting salaries, getting a full-time job and research grants.