Benjy Russell | Dark Big Bang — Tinney Contemporary

Tinney Contemporary is proud to present DARK BIG BANG, a solo exhibition by Benjy Russell. The exhibition will be on display from May 17, 2025 through June 28, 2025. The opening reception will be held on May 17 from 5 to 9 PM. A second reception will be held on June 14 in conjunction with the DADA (Downtown Arts District Alliance) Second Saturday Art Crawl.

DARK BIG BANG draws its title from the leading quantum theory on the origin of dark matter in the universe: a separate, second big bang that unleashed all the unseen and immeasurable dark energy comprising the majority of the known universe. Russell draws a parallel between this cosmological phenomenon and the root traumas experienced along our own human timelines—events that affect our everyday existence, yet are often difficult to pinpoint. These moments can stem from ancestral trauma passed down generationally, childhood trauma, past experiences of death and illness, as well as moments of "root joy," which shape how we move through life.

Mapping his own intergenerational history led Russell to uncover his Choctaw family’s involvement in the devastating and genocidal Trail of Tears, ending in the artist’s home state of Oklahoma; his family’s land allotment under the liquidation of communally-held tribal lands into privately owned properties; and his grandmother and great-grandmother’s forced attendance at a Catholic Indian Boarding School near his hometown. The latter was an instrumental tool in the erasure of Indigenous culture and the loss of generational knowledge in his family—and Indigenous families across Turtle Island (a term for North and Central America used by many Indigenous peoples).

The work in DARK BIG BANG finds Russell re-contextualizing traditional Choctaw crafts such as basket weaving, pottery, beadwork, and embroidery—crafts that use natural elements to create art through pattern and repetition. Embracing these diverse materials and practices, the artist constructs three-dimensional sculptural objects and environments, which he photographs to create lens-based "drawings." Russell utilizes in-camera effects to create lens-based works rooted in sculpture, performance, and process. His multidisciplinary practice defies neat categorization within the traditional boundaries of photography.

Russell’s varied approach and materials speak to his own complex history as a queer rural artist raised on the Chickasaw reservation, now a widower and AIDS survivor. This Venn diagram of identities and histories is mirrored in geometric goddess figures constructed from lighting gels commonly used in gay bars and nightlife culture; multi-panel pieces featuring his HIV medication photographed on velvet, reading more like embroidery than photography; kaleidoscopic sets made of mirrors and roses whose logistics are impossible to discern; and blocks of bulletproof acrylic floating in space.

DARK BIG BANG is both a meditation on trauma and a celebration of the joy that can arise from our shared human experience. Through this innovative body of work, Benjy Russell invites viewers to embark on a journey of reflection, healing, and hope—a journey from darkness into a reimagined future.

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Nashville, Tennessee

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