Bremner Benedict is a photographer based in West Concord, MA and Tucson, AZ. Her work addresses the shifting connections that humans have with landscape and the impact they are causing within the natural environment. In her most recent series Hidden Waters : The Uncertain Future of Desert Springs, (2014-ongoing) Benedict documents desert springs within the American West and Northern Mexico.
She begins by studying maps of where springs are marked, records their GPS coordinates, then begins her journey. Her photographs document the current conditions and predicaments of springs, from unaltered, restored, heavily altered, destroyed, to springs that are drained dry. There is a quiet beauty to this work. My immediate response was stilled as I searched within each photograph for what remains and what has been lost.
Roughly 50% of desert springs in the West are gone, “Hidden Waters / Desert Springs, An Uncertain Future” are images of what remains of arid and semi-arid desert wetlands. Despite being threatened, their ecosystems contain some of the richest diversity of plant and animal life on the planet and they hold 20% of the world’s endangered species. Called ‘windows into the earth’ springs reveal the quality and endurance of their aquifer’s water.
My interest in desert springs sparked while in Arizona, when accompanying a biologist on a springs inventory field trip where I discovered an entire world teeming with vitality living within a trickle of water. I was drawn to this vulnerable yet essential detail of life whose under-recognized value makes them susceptible to over-use and long-term drought. I’ve learned springs’ classifications, ecologies, human and geologic histories as well as their cultural significance. To locate springs, I search databases and maps while talking to ecologists and locals.
It takes large cups of coffee to support long drives to remote locations. Awaiting sunrise or an afternoon’s shifting light, allows me time to experience the contrast of a pastel parched landscape with a tuft of green holding a promise of water, the reason why a spring becomes sacred as a life-sustaining gift. I reduce color from the photographs to suggest their precarious existence and uncertain future. Springs are an emblem of why we need to think more long term since once they are gone most of desert life will vanish with them. My intent is to draw attention to protecting desert waters as they could serve a function beyond what we presently imagine.
Bremner Benedict’s photographic series, Distant Places, Gridlines, Re-Imagining Eden. address the shifting connection we have with landscape and its impact on the environment. In 2015, Benedict began Hidden Waters / Desert Springs – An Uncertain Future. This project covers springs and seeps of the arid and semi-arid deserts of Western North America. Benedict’s intent is to engage the public to reassess our relationship with water use in the West.
Benedict’s photography has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Numerous awards include solo exhibitions at Griffin Museum of Photography, Philadelphia Print Center, Texas Woman’s University and Mayor’s Gallery, Boston City Hall, Hess Gallery, Pine Manor College; selected finalist awards include Critical Mass Top 200, 2019, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Silver Eye Gallery, Forward Thinking Museum. She received a Griffin Museum Legacy Award, a Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchase Award, a San Francisco International Photo Exhibition Gold Medal, two Puffin Foundation Grants and a Museum of Northern Arizona Artist Residency. A selection of two-person and group exhibitions includes: George Eastman, International Museum of Photography and Film, Vital Signs, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM, Earth Now, American Photographers and the Environment, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, High & Dry XIX, Center for Creative Photography Tucson, AZ, Made in Arizona, Decordova Museum of Art and Sculpture, Lincoln, MA, Overgrowth.
Project portfolios are at Fidelity Art Boston, Center for Photography, Tucson, New Mexico Museum of Art, Decordova Museum of Art and Sculpture, Lincoln, MA, Fogg Museum at Harvard, George Eastman Museum of Film and Photography and private collections. In 2020 work from Hidden Waters will be seen at, New England Regional Exhibit of the FENCE, Boston, MA and the A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX.
