Blandine Hallé

Bio

Blandine Hallé is originally French, she lived in Paris until she was 26, then travelled extensively. She has been living in Australia since 1997. In 2017, she received the Postgraduate Diploma of Contemporary Applied Arts at the Massana School of Arts & Design in Barcelona. She holds an Advanced Diploma of Jewellery Design from Central Institute of Technology, a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Bachelor Degree from Curtin University in Perth. From her studio near Fremantle in Western Australia she creates unique pieces of art jewellery with a strong sense of narrative where she explores questions of identity and sense of place in relation to landscape, environment, culture and history. She recently co-organised Connexions exhibition presented at Parcours Bijoux 2020 in Paris and at the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial in Perth in 2021.

My art practice draws on my eclectic background and functions like a language. I use materials as you would use words for metaphors in a poem. My creative process works through play, I am interested in the relationships between shapes, textures and colours. I like to experiment with techniques and processes. I enjoy giving a new life to objects I gather from the natural and urban environment when they are normally at the end of their life cycle. Fruits stones and pods, plant materials, bones, recycled wood and found objects go through a precise process of transformation to reveal their hidden beauty. In the form of storytelling, my artwork is a commentary on my emotional, cultural and sensory experiences as a French-Australian.

In my series Francaustralian for Connexions exhibition I symbolised my relationship with France through the use of the hexagon shape in chain elements and other parts of my works. France is commonly called “the hexagon” because the map of the country fits into the geometric shape. My use of organic materials I gathered speak of my connection to the country of the Whadjuk Noongar people where I live. They are the traditional owners and custodians of the lands, waters and seas, and I pay respects to Elders past, present and future. Sovereignty was never ceded. I associate the circles and round pieces in my works to my sense of home on this land, in respectful reference to the concentric circles the First Nations People use in their artworks to represent a campsite, a fireplace and a meeting place.  

CV