About

Hi there, I’m Benny Anov.

I am an artist and assistant professor of war and cultural studies (in the United States) who was trained as a mathematician and literary scholar (in Canada, France, and the US). Photography has been my most trusted form of representation since I started taking photos seriously two decades ago. This site is a repository of selected events, excerpts from projects (some still experimental), and what I call exhibit "paratexts," which reveal the installation process of my work and counter the perceived static-ness of photography. It also houses the online component of my intermedial exhibit Why I'll Always Dream of Poland and my virtual compendium of "banal geopolitical symbols," Everywhere in sight.

My work – textual and visual in nature, both digital and on film – centers on building archives of conflict and the environment. Sometimes these are distinct facets; most times, though, these tracts weave together, since chronicling historical traces of war often happens within the geometry of ecological forms. I am preoccupied with minute visual recordkeeping – be it to collect reminders of patches of lichen or to document the detailed brickwork of a monument or a martial site, including those that speak to my own family’s past and present.

Text is an important appendage to the visual in my work. When exhibited, my photography is captioned with blocks of text that I call "over-captions." These provide an oversaturation of explanation: sometimes they deliver a flurry of technical detail to the viewer, at other times they expand into histories related to the images at hand, and at other times still they seek to highlight my inner worries about aestheticizing histories of violence. Overall, my work seeks to document things small within the very big. Throughout both my visual and textual work, I ask what it means (ethically, aesthetically, affectively) to remember historically situated places and moments and to (re)tell the stories of humans, non-human animals, plants, and objects.

My work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibits in galleries and cultural centers, including Carrefour des arts in Metz (France), the Houston Center for Photography (TX), the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago (IL), the Maloof Gallery in Atlanta (GA), the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts in Providence, and AS220, also in Providence (RI). Currently, I am working on sculptural investigations of "carapaces," which seek to embody a theoretical argument about history, memory, and literature in a three-dimensional form. The word "carapace" has been rattling around in my mind for years. I used it initially in relation to representations of quotidian life. Trialing ways to push those representations into a third dimension has involved turning recycled paper into papier-mâché and working with discarded plastics and found objects. 

Two other ongoing projects of mine include visuals that reflect on ionizing radiation (related to my current research on atomic technopolitics) and Plant Life: A Study in Focus. Most recently, I have been organizing site-specific exhibits at various locations under the code names "Read Hall" and "Villa Brunehaut." The locations are shared once participants RSVP. These events, held so far in Atlanta, Metz, Québec, and Ontario (Canada), blend photography with poetry and collage, fostering spontaneous exchange and dialogue.

I work predominantly in English and French, though sometimes in other languages, too. I spend most of my time thinking about migration/movement/mobility, the relationship between image and text, and the slippery spaces between languages, cultures, and borders (of which I am a product). I shoot with a borrowed Leica M11, a Nikon FM, and an iPhone 7 with a shattered screen. And when I am not working, I am trying to find (and create) concepts of home.