ONEIROI is a photographic installation by one of Australia’s leading artists, Bill Henson, that will be housed permanently at the Hellenic Museum, where the arts world gathered last Thursday night to catch a sneak preview before the official launch of the exhibition to the public.
The crowd gathered for drinks and canapés in the MPavilion before the exhibition was officially launched by Naomi Milgrom AO, chairperson, Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Following speeches, the guests were invited upstairs to view the artwork.
The photographs that make up ONEIROI incorporate priceless treasures from the Hellenic Museum’s award-winning Benaki collection, ‘Gods, Myths & Mortals’, which represents more than 8,000 years of Greek history and culture and comprises pieces of exquisite beauty and immense cultural significance.
The collection showcases a powerful and evocative narrative, suggesting an ‘everlastingness’ of beauty and form featuring selected treasures from the Benaki collection, exploring the intrinsic cultural connectivity that an individual has with history and evoking important dialogue between the past and the present.
In order to create a series of works exploring what it means to be split between two cultures, and the impact this has on the way we view ourselves, Henson used unique composition, chiaroscuro and the human form in creating powerful, narrative driven works of art. ONEIROI is exhibited in a dedicated gallery within the majestic heritage-listed former Royal Mint building, home of the Hellenic Museum. The new gallery installation has been designed by Bill Henson to compliment his series of photographs inspired by Greek history and mythology.
“It’s interesting to feel as though one is seeing something from an equal distance and closeness, and that one can sense both a tender, intimate, breathing proximity and simultaneously, an anonymous, monumental and unknowable distance in the same work at the same time,” explained Bill Henson.
“As though a work manages to contain all manner of opposing forces or contradictions. This is a quality that I respond to in all good art.”
The collaboration between Henson and the Benaki collection “will enable the museum to advance its mission to connect with a broader audience, which in turn will add to Melbourne’s vibrant arts and culture scene,” said the Hellenic Museum’s chairman Harry Stamoulis, stressing that “projects of this magnitude need support”.
The series inspires discussion about what it means to be custodians of an ancient past and it captures the way in which our history, culture and art shape the way in which we view ourselves today. Similar to the treasures selected by Bill Henson, the photographs that form ONEIROI are unique, without editions, reflecting the nature of the Benaki treasures which they incorporate.
“The treasures identified within the ONEIROI artwork, from a fourth-century gold wreath to the knife used by a revolutionary leader during the War of Independence, reflect the ways in which Greece has changed through the ages,” said Mr Stamoulis, acknowledging that the ONEIROI commission was made possible with the support of Robert Buckingham.
“Ambiguity is always at the centre of an interesting experience because this causes us to question, to wonder why a thing holds our attention. In the best experiences for me I’m compelled to look and continue to watch an object – it becomes compelling – yet the exact nature of the component parts which are causing this reaction, remain undefined or elusive and hard to pin down.” – Bill Henson.
In attendance at the launch were: Australian Ambassador to Greece, John Griffin; Greek Consul General, Christina Simantiraki and Federal Member for Calwell Maria Vamvakinou.
ONEIROI is on display now at the Hellenic Museum, 280 William Street, Melbourne. For more information call (03) 8615 9016 or email info@hellenic.org.au