She would dress for the soundproof booth in her signature style,combining cutting edge fashion with a striking range of jewellery by Indigenous,Samoan and PNG designers. As the host of the ABC’s new flagship arts program,Art Works,Benson brings that flair,along with a wealth of knowledge and a vital perspective to the conversation around the arts.
“Colonisation,migration and for folks like me,diaspora,play a formative part in the ways that expressions emerge across borders and landscapes,and how we define and value art and engage with it,” says the author of actor Jack Charles’ memoir, Jack Charles:Born Again Blakfella.
Art Works will take a different approach than ABC News’The Mix,axed in February after seven years.
“We are part of Entertainment,” explains Benson. “We want to do an arts program that’s not pretentious or elitist,or inaccessible. We still want to have insightful and brain-poking conversations,but I have quite a light-hearted approach to some aspects of the arts.”
Along with well-established names,such as Wiradjuri artist,Brook Andrew,the director of the 2020 Sydney Biennale,the program will feature others including satirical illustrator Celeste Mountjoy,aka Filthy Ratbag;African-Australian collective,Still Nomads;non-binary artist of Goan-Indian heritage,TextaQueen;South Sudanese photographer,Atong Atem;and Tolai artist,Lisa Hilli.
“I can use my position to pass the mic to those artists who don’t always have a chance to hold it,” says Benson. “Atong Atem’s work is extraordinary when it comes to how she’s flipping the gaze on the African diaspora in this country. Still Nomads create opportunities for young African artists who don’t always feel welcomed into museum and gallery spaces.”
For Benson,who insists,“I don’t have a creative bone in me”,art and traditional culture can be a problematic mix. Although there are more than 800 languages in PNG,where she has spent time since she was a child,and,more recently,run media training courses,her research has failed to find a PNG word for “art”.