Miniature furniture, tiny food and treasured keepsakes sent from around the world will feature in a new Hawkesbury Regional Museum exhibition exploring why people collect.
Opening on Saturday, November 14, What We Keep: The Art of Collecting begins with objects from Australian content creator Christian Hull’s Mini Museum, a collection that grew from a few online videos into an international project.
In early 2025, Hull began sharing his enthusiasm for miniatures with his online audience. He then invited his more than five million social media followers to contribute small objects of their own.
More than 1,500 parcels have since arrived, containing everything from handmade pieces to family heirlooms and objects linked to personal memories.
Hull has unboxed the contributions on camera and catalogued them, creating an archive of both the objects and the stories behind them.
“What started out as a fun little video hit a nerve and it turns out so many people are obsessed with miniatures,” Hull said.
“I had no idea I would get sent so many beautiful things. My two-bedroom apartment is now a one-bedroom with a warehouse.”
What he expected to last only a few weeks has become a much larger undertaking, with a book celebrating the collection also planned for release in 2026.
“We have created a proper Mini Museum, and I want to travel and take it all around Australia and even the world,” he said.
For museum visitors, the small objects will open up bigger questions about nostalgia, identity, memory and creativity and why something ordinary to one person can be precious to another.
The exhibition also considers how museums decide what to preserve and whose stories their collections should tell.
The series follows research undertaken after the launch of Hawkesbury City Council’s Cultural Plan 2025–2029. Council’s Arts and Culture team is reviewing its Collection Policy across the library’s archive and local studies holdings, museum and gallery.
What We Keep will help inform that work by exploring what the community values and what should be kept for future generations.
The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, November 14, with an official opening event on Saturday, November 21. The first instalment, featuring Hull’s Mini Museum, will continue until winter 2027.
Entry is free for all ages. Hawkesbury Regional Museum opens from 10am to 4pm on weekdays and 11am to 4pm on weekends, and is closed on Tuesdays. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
For accompanying public programs, visit hawkesburymuseum.eventbrite.com.
