Ben Malcolmson (b.1999) is a photographer born and based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ben works with photography, video and sculpture exploring alternative processes with relation to one’s land and identity. His practice further deals with the communication of the landscape, looking at the familiar and psychological complexities of the self with performative-based elements as an undertone.
Ben was nominated to participate in Making Marks Kuwait by Belfast Exposed, a photography gallery in Northern Ireland, which has supported his artistic development over a number of years. Ben has participated in their Young Futures programme, worked as an instructor for the gallery’s summer scheme and worked as a gallery invigilator for a number of exhibits. After the trip to Kuwait, Ben worked with Belfast Exposed on a body of work called Murmur which was exhibited as a solo show in the gallery throughout February 2020.
Travelling to Kuwait, the strong sense of social identity within the young Kuwaitis he met led Ben to think about his own native land, also influenced by layers of historic conflict. This led to the development of the project Murmur.
Delving into the connection of migration and selfhood, Murmur explored the subtle changing relationship within one’s identity and nature. Ben transferred Northern Ireland’s torn history and identity to material pictures of a struggle through the self. Exploring the mediums of photography, sculpture and multi-media, Murmur addressed the deep cultural heritage of Irish linen and handwoven fabric through site-specific sculptural and video installations that harked back to the history of the industry. As well as resonating the past, Ben commented on the current state of the region, through poetic gestures of self. Ben responded to the political climate in which identity and sense of self are heavily constrained, resulting in a series of self-portrait images that explored the material nature of the photographic image through various traditional and alternative methods of image-making.
Related Projects
ثنايا الزمان
خلق المساحات
رموز التراب