Jake Benzinger
Providence, RI
Summer 2026 * Photography
Artist Statement
Through an ongoing collaboration with the medium, Suzan “Fiona” Saxman, The Sun Danced That Day reflects upon how text and image ask for and negotiate with faith, belief, and perception. Since my initial meeting with Suzan, I have continued to visit her, receiving additional readings, following up on previous predictions, and bringing my photographs for further directions. I’m interested in how following her readings may fundamentally alter how I interact with the world. This extends from the decisions I make and the possibility of fate to how, phenomenologically, what I notice, search for, and attempt to conjure may be shaped by the trust I place in her predictions and insights. In this way, her readings don't simply predict what I may encounter, but, even subconsciously, construct what I understand as significant.
Suzan believes her abilities are possible because of quantum physics, the idea that past, present, and future are all happening all at once. For me to ignore my experiences with her and deny that she has capabilities beyond what is ontologically provable feels deeply and troublingly unempathetic. I worry about how predominant Western cultural beliefs discredit her and lead to her being othered without considering why more bodily forms of knowledge are being dismissed. Rooted in an effort to share reverence for Suzan, I treat her readings as guidelines for making this work. Using the camera, a tool historically tethered to attempts to document reality, I challenge our assumptions about what is real and how viewers extend gestures of trust, care, and empathy.
Portrait of the photographer
Works
i think her room is haunted, 2025, archival pigment print, 32"x24",
suzan and ghost, 2026, archival pigment print, 30"x40"
me and hannah, 2026, archival pigment print, 30"x40"
3am, 2026, archival pigment print, 32"x24"
a glowing tree, 2026, archival pigment print, 40"x30"
my father used to climb into the wall, 2026, archival pigment print, 20"x15"
a marking, 2026, archival pigment print, 20"x15"
a very hungry deer, 2026, archival pigment print, 40"x30"
an apparition at hockomock swamp, 2025, archival pigment print, 30"x40"
she said making self-portraits is important, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 24" x 18"
it's my rat rave and i can cry if i want to, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 32" x 24"
in the woods, at the dead of night, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 32" x 24"
doppelganger, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 32" x 24"
chalk ring, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 24" x 32"
i visited every day for a week, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 24" x 32"
a stump, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 30" x 40"
she saw an apparition of a white horse, 2026, Archival Pigment Print, 24" x 18"
i think he saw something, 2025, Archival Pigment Print, 40" x 30"
me and hannah, 2026 © Jake Benzinger
About the Artist
Jake Benzinger is a photographer, book artist, and writer based between Providence, RI, and Rockland, ME. He received his BFA in photography from Lesley University, College of Art and Design, and is currently an MFA candidate at Rhode Island School of Design. His work explores self-created mythos, weaving together imagery to navigate the space between fiction and reality, investigating themes of identity, mysticism, animism, and death.
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