Debi van Zyl

I was so happy when Gillian Bencke introduced herself to me via this blog - I had seen her parisian dolls a while ago and fell in love with them ... There is something a little melancholy about them, totally beautiful.

Her exhibitions are equally inspiring ... the masses of dolls in A CROWD Rockert art ... the princess and the pea story told with in photos in Paris at various stages of progress... the rescued fabrics, the photography, the installations, everything I love.

Not only is everything about "rescuing and redistributing," her own process is interesting, and one to which I can completely relate: "a degree in communications studies, led to photography, self-publishing, exhibitions, installations and collaborations. studies in digital media were followed by travel: a broken LOMO camera and the collecting of memories instead. somehow on the streets of paris the idea of 'dolls' from rescued fabric came to be."

And me... the connecting line between my degree in architecture and my knitted beasts is hardly straight or even remotely predictable as to where it's going.

Above: rue d'orsel and A CROWD Rocket art 2005, photos by Gillian Bencke