(CNN) We've all seen the memorabilia in museums Charles Dickens' pen, Florence Nightingale's handkerchief, Elizabeth Taylor's vanity case that humanizes a historical figure. But such ephemera is not what artist V-T-R is aiming for, however. For nearly two decades, the Australian, whose real name is Van T. Rudd, has been gathering forks used by the rich and famous, such as Hillary Clinton or Prince Harry, taken from under their noses at luxury hotels and private events.
He started his collection in the 1990s, when he worked as a young waiter at a luxury hotel. Relatability wasn't on his mind, though -- protest was.
"I gradually began to despise more and more the way the wealthy repeatedly had big corporate functions, while us staff worked around the clock to serve them. Yet while this was going on, we were often aware that we were handling the same objects as them," Rudd tells CNN.
What's with the forks?
Taking forks as opposed to a glass or plate was easier, as they're small and can better retain the traces of their previous user's appetite.
Across the years, a network of people across the world has gathered almost 40 forks in the collection, which now forms the basis of "The Rich Forks," an exhibition at Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne. "This exhibition takes something back," says the artist's statement. "It's re-appropriating a tiny piece of the vast amount of wealth stolen from us. Just think of the Panama Papers revealing that as of 2014, at least $7.6 trillion of the world's financial wealth went missing. So this show is a small gesture, but symbolically, and perhaps artistically, it can mean the world."
It may sound like an exaggeration, but V-T-R is all earnestness, with a hefty dose of anger.
"The idle rich are going through their parasitic motions while workers are toiling away, as in so many industries.
"My earliest experiences with serving the conservative politicians in Australia's Liberal Party, such as a former foreign minister, were memorable because you see a wealthy section of society in real life and see that they're just normal people who have to eat too only that they're eating much more than most of us and getting it for free every time. Can you imagine them paying by card or cash?"
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