Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Benjamin Salinas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Benjamin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
My father is an immigrant from Mexico and he had to sacrifice many parts of his life to build a new home and foundation for our family. In Mexico as a teenager and young adult, he was an artist entering competitions and painting murals in city. Our house was filled with his murals and the dream of being an artist has been consistent my whole life. It is with great joy I get to fulfill this shared dream.
Benjamin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I consider myself a storyteller. My most refined skills is within photography, but all mediums can be melded together to create a holistic experience for both creator and audience. In my life creating is an exercise of mindfulness, play, and expression. There is no separation from the glint of inspiration in the world to my reaction, noticing, engaging, and eventual art. It blossoms through its life, and much like a flower interconnected through fungal networks, aromatics, insects, light, and an entire ecosystem the art blooms.
“Fragments evoke wholes – multiplicities, potentials, and concurrencies. Fragments signify absences, even as they remind us of the presence of the unseen-yet-felt.” -Daniel Alexander Jones, Tell a Free Story
Time becomes the medium of life, all things in our perceptual language of the present is the basis of presentation. Every word in a poem, every sound in a movie, every sequence of photographs must be accounted for. Intention is the act of creating. Attention is the act of sustained noticing. As a teller these must be delicately considered and balanced for presentation of art. This is my focus in creating. A reflection of humans’ grandest experience of life.
This was shown in my installation Dancing Under a Canopy. Shown in a group exhibition Metaphorisis in the spring of 2023. My installation included a mural of collaged photographs centered around the connection of textures and values. Splayed behind a sculptural hanging of transparencies with drawings and photographs digitally interlaced printed on them. That was paired with photographs delicately printed over each other on colored paper blending composition and time. Finally a 20-foot hanging banner print of the tree canopy in my front yard.
“Photography has become my favorite way to play with the world. Images become little parcels of textures and value shifts that help remind me of the little sparks I’ve seen. It’s a form of invisible play. The investigations reflect the perception of knowledge and time, paralleled with human memory.” From project statement
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I work as an educator with young people ages 10-16. Many of these people have endured hardships at home and in academic settings constantly reiterating that they are not good enough. That they will not succeed because of their attention spans, impulses, and conflicts. Young people are highly impressionable and what they need is for the creators of curriculum to be responsive. As our society enters into a new age of technology and information, learning what was needed to be learned even 2 decades ago becomes irrelevant. History becomes a Google search away and language is rapidly switching to expression and quickness. The absolute best thing to do for our young people is to make a creative environment filled with complexity and conversation. We need to challenge the next generations to think like artists, philosophers, and scientists. They do not need to memorize facts or complete standard tests. They need to have the ability to build community, find common ground, and problem-solve creatively and collaboratively. They are entering a world with more complexity and communication than ever before in the history of humankind. Encourage our young people. Affirm that they are intelligent. Hear what they have to say and let them challenge you. This is the best thing we can do to support creatives.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Much of my creative passion is decolonization. My biggest source of anger is from systematic injustice. I have no desire to tell a straightforward account of racism and oppression that me and my family have endured. Often, it leads to more trauma and feels extractive in the way more privileged people seep up stories. It takes a lot of trust and care to share in that way. I express my anger through the way I live my life and through my art. If I display my anger as detesting society then the oppressors win. The more miserable I am the more colonization is in effect. This leaves the greatest act of performative art and rebellion in how I live my life. I choose compassion, a willingness to feel thoroughly, and a continual want for more experience to practice life.
I have 2 main goals in my creative journey. The first is to become more connected to my family in the States and in Mexico. Through my dual citizenship and creative mind, I hold a great privilege to bridge gaps and celebrate a movement that created trauma and separation.
Secondly, I wish to set up a collective living to host artist residencies and to build a family in. Much of my art is interacting with people, discussing, experiencing, and thinking of ways of relating. I love to be in the position of facilitating. Nothing is more exciting than to hear what people have to say from their life experiences. I want to give back to the creative community by fostering a place for all people, working artists or not, to share and learn from each other.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benjisalinasart/
Image Credits
Joshua Globke Benji Salinas