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.

"For this image, I had a neon sign made, and set up the photo at my neighbor's property that has a cave on it (and inside the cave is a pond and a creek). To get electricity to the neon sign, I had to run 600’ of extension chords to the mouth of the cave (in the rain). On either side of the frame is a light stand with a gelled blue light on the top. Connecting the two light stands is a bar that I hung the sign from (you can see the wires in the shot that are holding the sign). 

In the other room of the cave is a remote controlled light that is gelled pink. I had to shoot the photo from in the freezing cold cave water to get the perspective that I wanted. So I stripped down to my underwear (in February) and climbed in and started setting everything up. I thought the water was only a foot deep, but it turns out it’s 3’ of soft mud with razor sharp rocks on the bottom. Thankfully I couldn’t feel my legs by this time so I didn’t really notice the rocks slicing up my feet till I finished shooting and saw the blood pooling around the bottom of my feet."

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.

"For this image, I had a neon sign made, and set up the photo at my neighbor's property that has a cave on it (and inside the cave is a pond and a creek). To get electricity to the neon sign, I had to run 600’ of extension chords to the mouth of the cave (in the rain). On either side of the frame is a light stand with a gelled blue light on the top. Connecting the two light stands is a bar that I hung the sign from (you can see the wires in the shot that are holding the sign). 

In the other room of the cave is a remote controlled light that is gelled pink. I had to shoot the photo from in the freezing cold cave water to get the perspective that I wanted. So I stripped down to my underwear (in February) and climbed in and started setting everything up. I thought the water was only a foot deep, but it turns out it’s 3’ of soft mud with razor sharp rocks on the bottom. Thankfully I couldn’t feel my legs by this time so I didn’t really notice the rocks slicing up my feet till I finished shooting and saw the blood pooling around the bottom of my feet."

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.