Benjamin Waters, New Contemporaries 2025/2026
Benjamin Waters shares an update on his experiences with New Contemporaries, what he’s been working on, and tips for other artists just starting out.
“Being a part of the New Contemporaries exhibition and programme has taught me so much, particularly the mentoring offered, it has helped me to really consider and see my next steps as an early career artist.”
It has been a real privilege, to have my work shown amongst such a wide array of talented artists. It feels slightly surreal. The development days at The South London Gallery were also a great experience. It was lovely to be able to have the time to properly meet everyone outside of the context of the show or private view itself. The conversations and activities we took part in set the tone for what was to come and made it feel closer knit. And the opening felt really special. It was great to see so many people engaging with all the work displayed. I had so many lovely conversations throughout the evening.
“It’s been so great meeting so many wonderful people through the shared experience of working on the show and being part of this programme.”
Becoming an artist is something that has happened quite gradually for me. Growing up I always engaged with art but never saw myself as ever being part of that world or feeling like that was an option for myself. It wasn’t until I was studying for my degree that I began to see what I was creating in relation to the work that I was interested in, which snowballed into wanting to more seriously develop my practice and pursue this fully.
“So many random things inspire me.”
Genuine inspiration always seems to come out of the blue and can be from almost anything; hearing a certain turn of phrase, seeing something discarded on the pavement, it’s usually really loose and not always immediate. It’s usually a combination of things ruminating in the back of my mind that eventually triggers that feeling of seeing a potential fully formed thing; a photograph, drawing, etc.
I work predominantly with photography and film. But I also recently have been enjoying building other mediums around photography, using found objects, drawings and doodles in conjunction with images or making images of those objects and drawings. It’s really fun playing around with the ‘surface’ of photography as a way of not necessarily showing things as they are but using as something more loose and intangible.
I have been making a lot of images recently and doing a lot of sketchbook work. I am trying not to overthink what I am doing in terms of what it means or its place in relation to my overall practice but rather focus on making instinctively, letting images lead me first and foremost. At the moment, I am also continuing the work on the project that I am exhibiting in the New Contemporaries show. This project has consistently shifted and grown over the last year or so, but I’ve recently been focused on the feeling of recognising something beyond yourself, thinking of our thresholds be that our perception or understanding.
TIPS FOR EARLY CARRER AND EMERGING ARTISTS
Try and take the pressure off yourself sometimes; whether it’s by coming out of the art school circuit or just being on social media. There is a lot of pressure put on early career artists to be achieving a lot really quickly and to be an emerging ‘new’ talent. Although visibility is obviously needed to do this as a career, I think prioritising realising your own personal practice and focusing on making work you genuinely love is the key that will lead you to the right places.
Benjamins work and the other 2025/2026 artists are on view at MIMA, Middlesbrough 8 May – 12 April.
