About Bricolage Collective
The word ‘bricolage’ derives from the French bricoler meaning ‘to tinker’ - a fitting description for the photography practices of Noelle Bennett, Gary McClintock and Henrik Moller. Together they form the Bricolage Collective in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Using digital images as their raw material, they slice, remix, distort and reimagine both natural and artificial forms. Sometimes they present them simply, but in ways that invite - or maybe even demand - a second look.
Though distinct in style and subject, their work is united by experimentation, emotional resonance, and a shared search for fresh ways of seeing the world.
Noelle Bennett
Noelle’s introduction to photography happened in the relatively recent past - in 2013 to be precise - when she was given a camera for her birthday. Because of work commitments she had no spare time for photography courses or the like, so ended up teaching herself. That didn’t phase her at all - she was just so excited to finally have a camera. Initially, she says, she photographed anything and everything - or that’s what it felt like when she was downloading the images from a photographic foray!
Originally from the UK, she came to New Zealand in 2002. Now living in the foothills of the Southern Alps of South Island New Zealand and with a passion for the natural world, Noelle sees her camera as both her paint brush and her canvas. She uses a combination of abstract, impressionist and realist techniques as she seeks to produce a representation of our world and to share its visual beauty and its ambience.
Noelle says that for her, photography is all about being there. Absolutely, it’s about what she sees, but maybe more importantly, she says, it’s about how the scene in front of her makes her feel. It’s not about the archetypal or conventional world view of things like beauty. She says she can find things of beauty in the unlikeliest of places - in the mundane, in chaos or even in tragedy. It’s all there, just waiting to be found. We simply need to open our minds as well as our eyes; to look, but more importantly, to see.
You can see more of Noelle’s work, including extended series from the Bricolage Collective exhibitions, on her website at Wild Imaginings.
Gary McClintock
Photography has always been a hobby rather than a career for Gary. However, it has become a very important part of his life. He says he sees so much more than he did before taking up a camera.
Photography offers him a way to initiate and deepen interests - it can provide energy and action. However, over time, the opportunity for stillness and contemplation have become the most important aspects for him.
Gary lives in Whanganui, Aotearoa New Zealand, and describes this country as a stunningly beautiful place to be. He enjoys travelling to other parts of the world but always arrives home with a sense of how lucky he is to live here.
His photographic interests are varied but are all linked by a desire to show what is not always easily seen. An image can frame and isolate detail that is so easily lost in the busy-ness. Cameras can be used to deliberately create images that stretch time, are out of focus, blurred, whilst cameras and lenses offer the ability to pull the distant closer, make the small bigger and capture action that happens so quickly. One of his favourite activities is to wander around urban areas looking for scenes that show artistry in the overlooked, perhaps on the side of a building or a container.
The images on this site offer the viewer a glimpse how Gary sees the world around him. More of Gary’s work, including extended series from the Bricolage Collective exhibitions, can be viewed at Gary McClintock Photography.
Henrik Moller
Photography is Henrik’s detox therapy after a 50-year career as an ecological and social scientist to promote sustainability and conservation. Through the camera he explores people and ecosystems in ways that are more playful, emotional and mysterious than research alone could express.
Despite his lifelong fascination with plants, animals and wild places, Henrik has remained convinced that people are an essential part of nature, and that a strong connection to place is fundamental to caring for the landscapes, species and communities that sustain us.
Photography provides a different pathway into those ideas. Time spent with a camera is Henrik’s opportunity to slow down, absorb the sights, sounds and scents of the natural world, and reflect on the emotional currents that lie beneath everyday experience. The act of capturing light becomes both an exploration of the environment and a form of personal renewal.
Henrik’s photography has gradually evolved from documentary representation toward a more minimalist and abstract nature expressionism. Through layering, simplification and creative interpretation, he seeks not only to depict the natural world but also to communicate something of its fragility, resilience and wonder. He hopes that his images encourage viewers to look more closely, feel more deeply, and strengthen their own connection with the places and ecological stories that surround them.
More of Henrik’s work, including extended series from the Bricolage Collective exhibitions, can be viewed at Open Shutters.