This work was displayed in Benjy Russell's solo show, You’re on new bridges made of home (you found the light in a dark poem) on Level One: Terra, presented by Wilder.

My husband had brought this peony home for me. I was in awe of it's heft and fragrance. I photographed it from the porch of our cabin with a magenta gel behind it and studio light on it. I remember so much of that day quite vividly. Watching him pot up this year's new plants and going through last years bulbs and seeds, while I lounged on the porch taking photographs of this year's new plants.

Benjy Russell grew up in rural Oklahoma, and currently resides in rural Tennessee. As a gay man in the rural South, he lives among a thriving and diverse community of queer and trans people who vision the new world together. The friendships that form this community are important not only as subject matter, but also as inspiration and source material — much of his work was created in collaboration with these artists.

Russell is compelled by the conversation that happens at the intersection of philosophy, science and art, a way to see the world prismatically and to unlearn harmful, antiquated social structures. He often looks to science fiction as a model for shaping reality, believing that by creating a fictionalized, ideal version of the future, we take the first step toward its existence.

Most of Russell’s work utilizes in-camera effects, using sculpture, studio lights and mirrors to allude to magical realism. By creating a physical moment of impossibility, he hopes to hold it up to the rest of the world and show what else might be possible.

This work was displayed in Benjy Russell's solo show, You’re on new bridges made of home (you found the light in a dark poem) on Level One: Terra, presented by Wilder.

My husband had brought this peony home for me. I was in awe of it's heft and fragrance. I photographed it from the porch of our cabin with a magenta gel behind it and studio light on it. I remember so much of that day quite vividly. Watching him pot up this year's new plants and going through last years bulbs and seeds, while I lounged on the porch taking photographs of this year's new plants.

Benjy Russell grew up in rural Oklahoma, and currently resides in rural Tennessee. As a gay man in the rural South, he lives among a thriving and diverse community of queer and trans people who vision the new world together. The friendships that form this community are important not only as subject matter, but also as inspiration and source material — much of his work was created in collaboration with these artists.

Russell is compelled by the conversation that happens at the intersection of philosophy, science and art, a way to see the world prismatically and to unlearn harmful, antiquated social structures. He often looks to science fiction as a model for shaping reality, believing that by creating a fictionalized, ideal version of the future, we take the first step toward its existence.

Most of Russell’s work utilizes in-camera effects, using sculpture, studio lights and mirrors to allude to magical realism. By creating a physical moment of impossibility, he hopes to hold it up to the rest of the world and show what else might be possible.