Steven Benson is a photographer, educator and independent curator based in Orlando. He was Professor of Photography/Video and Chair of the Southeast Center for Photographic Studies, School of Photography and Media Studies at Daytona State College, as well as Chair of the Interactive Media program. He holds a BFA from the College for Creative Studies and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He is the recipient of three Creative Artist Grants-Michigan Council for the Arts and a NEA/ArtsMidwest Fellowship. His work is represented in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Art-Houston, Detroit Institute of Arts, Bibliotheque Nationale-France, Centre Georges Pompidou and the Portland Art Museum. Solo exhibitions of his photography include the Centre Georges Pompidou and photography festivals/biennials/triennials in Argentina, South Korea, Germany, Syria, Poland, China, Denmark and FotoFest (2004, 2008, 2026).
A retrospective of his work was on view at the Southeast Museum of Photography in 2012.
Recently on view: “Invented Observations”, a 35 year survey of B&W photographs at the Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, Fl 2022; ‘Highway Deconstruction’, Emory and Henry College, McGlothlin Center for the Arts, Emory, Virginia;; 2023. He was named 'International Photographer of the Year 2024' by Exposure One Awards. The Russian curator, Dr. Irina Chmyreva, is included a series of my hand-colored images, “Incantations”, in her exhibition for Pingyao Festival of Photography in China, “Spiritual Landscape”, 2023.
As an independent curator he has produced; “Roger Ballen: in Retrospect – Four Decades of Photography and Video”; "Mind Over Matter: The Photographs of Arno Minkkinen" for the SE Museum of Photography, among others.
