Monday, May 20, 2019

Robert Benjamin: River Walking
Light Work Gallery

Price: Free
Light Work Gallery
316 Waverly Ave., Syracuse University, Syracuse

Light Work is pleased to present Robert Benjamin's "River Walking," a solo exhibition of photographs and poems spanning four decades. A self-taught photographer and poet, Benjamin's work, often centered around his family, offers a simple and honest consideration of what it means to live and to love with intention. "I think you have to love your life, and you have to have the courage to find the world beautiful," says Benjamin. Enchanted by color and the beauty of photography itself, Benjamin uncovers poetry in the everyday.

Benjamin never wanted a career in photography. He simply felt that he needed to make pictures. According to Benjamin, one of the great joys of being a photographer is working with cameras. He appreciates the elegance of mechanical objects deeply — their feel, their smell, their sound. Cameras are "exquisite little machines" — like typewriters, he says. Benjamin has been writing poems on his Smith-Corona Clipper longer than he's made photographs. His poems echo the sensitivity and humble directness of his photographs. More recently, Benjamin has begun pairing what he aptly calls "small photographs" with "small poems," a selection of which are included in this exhibition.

Read a review!