Neil Benson

neilbensonphotography.blogspot.com

thummb

Found Object Artist & Photographer

"I am excited by trash transformation - art alchemy. I'm thrilled by the challenge of fishing in the trash stream in the US (it's really a trash tsunami). Removing things from dumpsters and fashinging new uses is a spiritual experience for me - refuse resurrection requires all my creative abilities to break away from past uses to see new life in old objects.

"In Philadelphia we have a group of salvage artists called the Dumpster Divers, where we throw out ideas of reuse and recreation. Our motto is 'Ejectamentum nummi nostrum - Your trash is our cash.'"

Neil Benson, a professional photojournalist who worked in Philadelphia from 1970 to 2000, was staff photographer for Philadelphia Magazine (1975–90) and his photographs were published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, South Street Star, Time, Life, People, theNew York Times, and Rolling Stone. His images document Philadelphia in the turbulent closing decades of the 20th century.

"In both photography and art I never gave very serious consideration to the finances of it. It’s not why I do things and, it’s defiantly true in the art field, I actually took a significant pay cut and increased the amount of time I have to spend in my chosen field by switching. But I’m happy to do it because I feel as though I’m making a significant contribution to my culture by making objects that require thinking the way I want people to think. As in photography, I still remain at, heart, a propagandist. I want my view to be the view. And I wake up in the morning to make sure that I can get my view across to other people through art. I used to do it through photography now I do it through constructing objects."

The above descriptive information came from Benson's Biography page and his Artist Statement page.

Info

• Exhibition: Made In Philadelphia: Movers + Shakers
• Video: Philadelphia Dumpster Divers (YouTube)