Artist Beth Hopkins on Collections

I worked on this event with Bethlem Gallery’s Curator, Karim Sultan. We wanted to involve artists at every stage of the event, as the artists’ perspective was a core part of what we were hoping to achieve. The best thing about the event was getting so many great minds together, on Zoom and in the room.  

Karim and I felt it was important to make the day as creatively engaging as possible, so rather than following a symposium format of a day of speakers and a listening audience, we included creative making sessions. This allowed people taking part to discuss the themes raised in the talks. 

Working on the event made me question how history is made through collections and archives. Whose stories are remembered and preserved, and whose are forgotten.  

It was interesting to see what museums, such as the Wellcome Collection, are now doing to counter this. They have an open submission policy, which means anyone can submit work for consideration to be acquired. This is unusual and many institutions do not work in this way. Melanie Grant, Collections Development Lead at the Wellcome Collection shared the process with us. We also heard from Sarah Lloyd, a Bethlem artist who has had her work acquired by the Wellcome Collection, on what that process was like, and what it meant to her. Later on we heard from Keith Clapson, artist, and Shaz Hussain, a Loans Out Collections Registrar at Tate, about the process they follow there. We talked about how the value of the work changes when it goes from the artists’ hands into a collection, becoming an artefact to be preserved and cared for.  

Another speaker was Francesca Telling, an artist, facilitator and youth worker who facilitated a pilot youth programme ‘Young Archivists’ at Croydon Archives. The project brought local 14-18-year-olds from Global Majority and migrant backgrounds into dialogue with the borough’s collections. Franscesca played an audio piece which compiled some of the young people’s voices and poetry, as well as interviews and oral histories they had researched. 

In the making sessions we looked at how collections can be used by artists, how they can be activated – unlocked and made relevant to people who feel excluded from them, or who think they are not for them. We looked at how collections can be used as a tool for social change.  

Working on the event has influenced my practice in a number of ways. Gathering stories has always been part of how I work, and the collections event re-emphasised for me the value of conversations with other artists and experts. So much can emerge through conversation, bringing many ideas and responses together. It also made me consider how as an artist I collect found objects to use in my work.  

I am creating a zine as a record of the day, which included the collages people made during the making sessions and a series of questions we asked at the event. I hope artists and researchers will be able to use it as a starting point for their own thinking about collections in the future.