Artist Statement

I have sometimes fallen between the intersections of art and poetry, and after some years of practicing as a poet-for-hire, I came to understand ‘poet’ as a verb; an action word. The action is always a labour of love or longing, and love is always changing and is understood more deeply and sweetly over time. Sometimes this practice echoes grieving, and lately my works become records of something I notice in time. They express healing, loss, fears, hope, humour, and my memories.

My recent works combine surreal and natural elements, influenced by printmaking, and finished by fire. Figurative at times, I am attempting to make these works take up more space and depart from the usual shapes. I am interested in the landscapes around me, and where my body exists within wild space.

Biography

b. 1994

benetti grew up with a lot of clay in her life. Growing up near the Bay of Fundy she ran barefoot through mudflats as a child, and her mother started a community studio and pottery practice still thriving today. Benetti has attended York and OCAD Universities in Ontario for studio arts, where she has focused on printmaking, installation, artist books, photography and text-based works in her practice. She has worked in horticulture, schools, libraries, sculpture and printmaking studios as well as being a poet-for-hire in New Orleans, Montreal/Tiohtià:ke, Halifax/Kjipuktuk, Tkaronto/Toronto and countless street-corners in-between. Her poems were published under the pseudonym "pseudonym", and has been featured on CBC News as well as in The Link Newspaper. In 2020 she graduated from OCAD, and has since come home to Nova Scotia. She is currently based out of Colchester where she is teaming up with her mom to promote the work they are doing at the pottery studio through the pandemic, as well as teaching art classes to teens and adults.