The Land Gives Until It No Longer Can- Thesis Installation by Léwuga Benson

The Land Gives Until It No Longer Can

A thesis Installation by Léwuga Benson

University at Buffalo- Center for the Arts, Room 278

Hours: Wednesday May 4 - 2:00-4:00pm & 6:00- 8:30pm, Thursday May 5th & Friday May 6th, 6:00-8:30pm

The Land Gives Until It No Longer Can is a multi-media installation addressing the conditions and circumstances that led to my family’s forced migration from our native land, the Niger Delta, and how that migration influenced my outlook on questions of identity, representation, and belonging. Utilizing multiple rear screen projections and suspended metal oil drums emitting a resonant soundscape, The Land Gives Until It No Longer Can explores the power that environments have in shaping our identities and personal and collective memory.

Special thanks to Thesis Chair, Professor Laura Kraning; and committee members, Professors Alex Reid and John Fiege.

I thank the Center for the Arts and the University at Buffalo's Department of Media Study for the lessons it has instilled in me throughout the years and from which I relied upon to create this thesis project. Special thanks to Carl Lee, Michael Bouquard, John Rickus and Jeffery Sherven for their guidance and assistance with the installation. 

And most of all, thank you to my family, especially my father Beke Benson.