FERGUS BERNEY-GIBSON

Fergus Berney-Gibson is an artist and writer based on Gadigal land whose practice explores fraternal historiography through a queer lens. Berney-Gibson addresses the politics of bodies coming together, case studied through an analysis of gendered behaviour and ritual. In his photo-sculptural practice, Berney-Gibson deconstructs and queers narrative forms — bildungsroman, gossip, and scripture — to propose alternative frameworks for connection. He combines found leathers, textiles, tools and domestic objects with fragmented photo-documentation. These accumulated fragments form an alternative archive of fraternal interaction — one that privileges touch, experience, and non-hierarchical historiographies.

1. Fergus Berney-Gibson, The Scrum, 2025, community-sourced amyl nitrate and pigment on cotton/polyester boys athletics socks, stainless steel, thread. 100x100cm. NFS.

The Scrum combines biographical photography and textile image transfer to investigate themes of memory, coming-of-age and manhood. The tapestry is comprised of printed poly-cotton socks and hung from four carefully placed steel towel racks to evoke allusions to religious objects and trophy hunting. I printed the photographs with amyl nitrate (poppers) as an image transfer medium through an etching press. Each bottle was collected from friends and lovers over the course of six months. The flash photos are drawn from my personal archive, over the same six months. Each are cropped moments of contact between two bodies. I sewed the groups of socks together into a tapestry that resembles both an animal skin and old gym gear, cast off and hung from the rack. I am influenced by the pervasive nature of the coming-of-age narrative across all forms of media; specifically the bildungsroman and the hero’s journey. The Scrum is a deconstruction of these narratives, nonlinearly combined and remade to prioritise the contact so ardently refused by a national culture of ‘strong men’. In the acts of pushing toward and pulling away, The Scrum is the relic left behind.