About
Harriet Collins (b. 1995) is an artist, maker, designer, and ritual crafter based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. She has recently completed her studies at Ara Institute of Canterbury where she gained a Bachelor of Design (Applied Visual Arts) in 2019, and a Master of Creative Practice with Distinction in 2021. In 2019 she was the recipient of the Will Cumming Memorial Award, and in 2021 she was awarded Highly Commended in the ECC New Zealand Student Craft Design Awards.
Harriet’s work often is inspired by architectural concepts and is relational to the body. Through a phenomenological lens, her work considers the ways in which we create, relate to, and interact with objects and space. This has primarily been realised through forms of body adornment, from small-scale contemporary jewellery pieces to larger sculptural works.
Responding to exploratory research conducted as part of her thesis, Crafting Ritual: Exploring ritual practice for non-religious persons through art, Harriet developed a series of artworks that sought to offer the effects of ritual behaviours through secular means. The resultant findings of this project have motivated a reexamination of her creative process, and have inspired a continual investigation into how ritualisation may be encouraged, offered and supported through creative practices to gain a sense of fulfilment, inner peace, and self-regulation.
In 2021, Harriet established her brand, Homer Collins. An extension of her art practice, products developed as part of Homer Collins also seek to promote ritualistic activities.
Exhibitions
ECC NZ Student Craft Design Awards Group Exhibition, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, 2021
Ripe Group Exhibition, The Artbox, Christchurch, 2019
Unfolding Group Exhibition, The Artbox, Christchurch, 2019
We Make It Group Exhibition, The Artbox, Christchurch, 2018