Mac Benson

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I am an interdisciplinary artist and naturalist currently working in Austin, Texas. Before I pursued my interest in art, I studied environmental science and ecology. I enjoy the intense observation these fields require. I participate in volunteer environmental research and work as a freelance archivist. Because of this background, I find myself deeply interested in examining interpersonal ecologies, museum culture, and the everyday. I use methodical, research-based making processes to catalog and investigate our interactions with vernacular objects and imagery, such as fossils, flowers, vessels, and rocks. Using books, video, and sculptural objects, I create brightly colored, documentary-esque examinations of my relationship to the everyday. 

I look to small town museums, used book stores, folk art, and forms of storytelling to inform my work. I play with modes of viewing by exaggerating the scale and color of known objects. In an attempt to invoke curiosity and inquisition, I obscure museum display methods. Frequently, I ask my community to participate in my art, and their participation becomes a lasting archive of the piece: a recording, a book, or a short film. My work is driven by a belief that cultivating an awareness of our collective vulnerability and the inherent comedy of our shared experience makes for an enriching life.

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