Image courtesy of the artist
From April 4-19, 2025, New City Arts will presents On seeing + being: presence in the midst of anxiety, an exhibition of new work by Ben Fey.
Ben W. Fey is a designer and photographer based in Charlottesville, Virginia. He fondly remembers taking photographs of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Disney as a kid in the mid-90s. One of his favorite photographs was not of the fire or action, but of the place where Indiana Jones hid when the giant ball rolled down the hill. Almost 30 years later, Ben still loves photographing the overlooked details around him. His work has been exhibited at Second Street Gallery and Trinity Presbyterian Church. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia.
New City Arts' Welcome Gallery
114 3rd St. NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902
First Friday Opening Reception
April 4 from 5-7:30PM; Artist talk at 6PM. Free and open to the public. All ages welcome. Exhibition opening sponsored by William Taylor and the Taylor Group of Truist Investment Services.
Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Saturday from 10AM-5PM
Exhibition Events
Photo walk & discussion with Ben Fey | April 12 | 10AM-12PM | RSVP required. Space is limited.
Visitor Guide
What you’ll see: In this exhibition, visitors find photographs from Ben W. Fey’s 2024 daily photography project documenting the often overlooked details of the world around him—wind during a storm, a person playing the piano, the decay of a flower, changing seasons—and taken mostly within a half-mile of his home. Installed along the gallery walls, photographs are primarly displayed in black frames and are arranged in a variety of groupings. Stepping through the glass front door, visitors will face the gallery’s back walls, painted black for this exhibition. A selection of six photographs has been installed here, with two larger and two smaller photographs hung in a line along the back wall and two smaller images installed side-by-side on the narrow wall facing the front. Along the gallery’s center wall, positioned between two door frames, a grid of all 412 photographs from the artist’s project is displayed on a thick line of black paint. In the front of the gallery, photographs are installed on white walls. On the right side, eight framed works of various sizes are hung in a line. On the left side, works are hung in groups, with eight framed diptychs, a series of seven photographs shown together in a white, unframed matboard, and four individually framed photographs.
Thank You
This exhibition is supported by the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.
Exhibition Statement
On August 7, I walked into my front yard hoping to see the mushroom I photographed the day before. To my delight, the mushroom was still there, but transformed. A small pile of dirt on top confirmed it was the same mushroom. Two hundred twenty days into the project, I could still be surprised by what I found.
This exhibition documents a daily photography practice inspired by an online photography community I found during one of my most difficult and anxious years. The routine of finding, photographing, editing, and sharing one photograph a day was a welcome assignment and grounding rhythm. Instead of allowing anxiety to pull me inward, I focused outward through my camera, training myself to pause, be present, and truly see the world around me.
Over the 366 days of 2024 (a leap year), I made and shared 412 photographs. The majority of these images were taken within a half-mile radius of my home, proving that you do not have to travel to find beauty. Sometimes I had to look harder to find the beauty, but it was there, even in the midst of difficult things.
Located at 114 3rd St. NE on Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall, New City Arts’ Welcome Gallery supports artists who live in the Charlottesville area. Welcome Gallery exhibitions and programs are made possible by generous sponsors, donors, and grants. Interested in sponsoring an exhibition? Connect with us!