Helen Britton in front of her 2025 work, The Big and the Small Things. Photo: Jacquie Manning
A major touring exhibition celebrating one of Australia’s most innovative and internationally acclaimed artists has arrived at MPRG, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience the richly layered world of Helen Britton.
Commissioned and toured by the Australian Design Centre as part of its Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft series, Helen Britton: The Story So Far continues until August 23 at MPRG, the only Victorian venue to host the exhibition. It honours Britton as the 10th artist in a program dedicated to recognising Australia’s most distinguished craftspeople, celebrating mastery, innovation and the enduring contribution of artists who shape the nation’s design culture.
Widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading contemporary jewellers, Helen Britton has built a significant international profile, with her work particularly celebrated across Europe. In 2005, she was awarded the prestigious Herbert Hofmann Prize in Germany –one of the highest honours in contemporary jewellery – and in 2021 her practice was the subject of the feature-length documentary Hunter From Elsewhere, which premiered at the Dok-Fest in Munich.
Helen Britton: The Story So Far brings together new and recent works spanning painting, installation, jewellery, drawing and object-making, alongside the premiere presentation of My Godmother’s House, a significant photographic series developed between 2017 and 2019. At its heart, the exhibition is a deeply personal exploration of memory, place and material culture, grounded in Britton’s connection to the home of her late great-aunt and godmother Kath Carr on the Clarence River (Ngunigiji, Yaegl Country).
Magic Cupboard is another ofHelen Britton’s works from 2025. Photo: Jacquie Manning.
Through photographs and an evocative installation approach, Britton transforms the gallery into an immersive environment where domestic space, childhood memory and artistic practice converge. Jewellery is not confined to display cases but integrated into a broader visual language, presented as both wearable objects and sculptural artworks. The result is an exhibition that challenges conventional distinctions between art forms and invites audiences into a slower, more contemplative way of looking.
Britton’s work is celebrated globally for its inventive use of materials and its ability to elevate the everyday. From repurposed objects to intricate compositions in Galalith gold and found materials, her practice reflects a deep sensitivity to history, environment and the narratives embedded within objects.
Accompanying the exhibition is a major monograph published by Arnoldsche and designed by award-winning German book designer Alexandra Rutischka. The publication offers a comprehensive overview of Britton’s career and will be available for purchase at the gallery shop.
Critically acclaimed upon its opening, the exhibition has been described as “a reboot of our childhood sense of awe for the world”, inviting visitors to engage with art as an experience of curiosity, wonder and connection. Find out more at mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Home
