Ben Alper
b. 1983, Westerly, RI

EDUCATION

2014 - MFA, Studio Art, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
2009 - BFA, Photography, Massachusetts College of Art + Design, Boston MA

SOLO + TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022
Hiding in Plain Sight (with Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa), The Whole Life: Archives and Imaginaries, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2020
The Living Dune (with Peter Hoffman), 140 West Franklin, Chapel Hill, NC 
2018
Hard Places (with Joy Drury Cox), Ejecta Projects, Carlisle, PA 
Allegory, Gutter Box, Raleigh, NC
2017
The Residual City, Camera, Cluj, Romania 
2014 
An Index of Walking, The John and June Allcott Gallery, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020
The Contemporaries Vol. II, OneOneOne, Chapel Hill, NC
Keeper of the Hearth: Picturing Roland Barthes' Unseen Photograph, Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX
Benefit Auction, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA
Raleigh Fine Arts Society North Carolina Artists Exhibition, CAM, Raleigh, NC
2019
Cold Season, Aviary Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA 
2018
And light followed the flight of sound, Candela Books + Gallery, Richmond, VA
Anti-Nostalgia, The Carrack, Durham, NC 
Across County Lines: Contemporary Photography From the Piedmont, Nasher Musuem of Art, Durham, NC 
I Surrender, Dear, Umbrella Arts, New York, NY 
The Contemporaries, Light Art + Design, Chapel Hill, NC
2017
Where We Find Home, The Cameron Gallery, The Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC
Biennial Studio Art Faculty Exhibition, 406 Gallery, Elon University, Elon, NC
Mixtape, The Carrack, Durham, NC
Show Off: Digiscapes!, LUMP, Raleigh, NC
Future Isms, Glass Box, Seattle, WA
Paradise Out-Front, The Southern, Charleston, SC
2016
Anywhere but here, LUMP, Raleigh, NC
A Certain Place, Craft Studio, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Elsewhere, Illges Gallery, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA
A Great Sum (In Parts), Osnova Gallery, Moscow, Russia
The Black and White Project, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
CAMSTELLATION, CAM, Raleigh, NC
6th Annual Zine + Self-Published Photo Book Fair, Baxter Street, New York, NY
Local Tide, S1 Gallery, Portland, OR
2015
Neo-Pre-Post-Contra-Para-Anti-Hyper-Pro-Trans-Ultra Photography, Spectre Arts, Durham, NC
Beyond Cameras, Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC 
Photography Sees The Surface, Higher Pictures, New York, NY
Hey Neighbor, Spectre Arts, Durham, NC
2014
Merge, Castell Photography Gallery, Asheville, NC
Family Pictures, The New Ohio Theater, New York, NY
Parts of the Sum: 2014 MFA Exhibition, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
2013
The Power of Habit, The John and June Allcott Gallery, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC 
Process of Subtraction, Chicago Art Department, Chicago, IL
The Present Tense of Space (Presented by Lintroller), 317, Brooklyn, NY
Surface Tension, Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL 
An Ode To Paper/Unpublished, Corridor and Stairs, Milan, Italy
Useful Pictures, Michael Matthews Gallery, New York, NY
Archetype Drift, Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL
2012
These Peanuts Are Bullets, Unpublished Collector's Edition, Family Business Gallery, New York, NY
Young Curators, New Ideas IV, Meulensteen, New York, NY
Small Works, Flash Forward Festival, Boston, MA
2011
Unpublished Issue #03, Le Dictateur Gallery, Milan, Italy
All of This Is Rocket Science, The Black Box Project, nofound Photo Fair, Paris, France
Macabre & Mysticism, Red Roots Gallery, New York, NY
How To Disappear, Luminary Center for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
The Collector's Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2 Exhibition, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
2010 
Manual Transmission Miami, NADA Art Fair, Miami, FL
Manual Transmission, Bush Gardens Rooftop, Brooklyn, NY
Bushwick Open Studios, 250 Moore, Brooklyn, NY
Graphic Intersections, Umbrage Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Postcards From the Edge, ZieherSmith, New York, NY
2009 
ARTribe:Photography For The Next Generation, Swiss Institute, New York, NY 
BFA Senior Thesis Exhibition, Mass Art, Boston, MA 
Mass Art's 20th Annual Benefit Art Auction, Boston, MA 
PRC Student Exhibition, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA 
2008
ARTcetera Art Auction, Boston, MA
A-4 Galley, Mass Art, Boston, MA 
Insight Photography Project Silent Auction, Brattleboro, VT
Exposure Project, Tillies of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
All School Show, Mass Art, Boston, MA 
2007
Exposure Project, Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington, MA 
Exposure Project, Center for Photographic Exhibitions, Boston, MA 
2006 
Artcetera Art Auction, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA

BOOKS

A New Nothing (No. 1), published by Sleeper Studio, 2021
Primal Sight, published by Gnomic Books, 2021
Hiding in Plain Sight (HaFI 012), published by the Harun Farocki Institut, 2020
Keeper of the Hearth: Picturing Roland Barthes' Unseen Photograph, published by Schilt, 2020
And light followed the flight of sound, published by One Day Projects, 2018
Compound Fractures, published by Flat Space, 2018
Hands On, published by Flat Space, 2018
A New Nothing, published by There There Now, 2016
A Series of Occurrences, published by Flat Space, 2016
Adrift, published by Flat Space, 2015

PUBLICATIONS + MEDIA

2021
“Lost in the Shuffle”, The Wire, #447, May 2021
“Frayed Ties”, Time Magazine, Vol. 197, No. 3 - 4
2020
“Don’t Stop Me Now”, Musée Magazine, Issue 23
Dummy Magazin, Issue 66
2019
"Another Day in Paradise", In The In-Between, Online, August 1
"Front Porch", Southern Cultures, Summer 2019
"Photo Poker", Closing Ceremony, Issue 02 (published by Same Paper)
"A New Nothing", Form Magazine, Online, February 11
2018
"Tourist Attraction", PDN, August 2018
"If Photographs Could Talk", Aperture Blog, Online, April 18
Wallpaper, WeTransfer, Online"A Series of Occurrences", Phroom Magazine, Online February 3"There's Something Happening Here: A Series of Occurrences", In the In-Between, Online, January 31
Dear Dave, - Issue #26
2017
"The Year In Reverse", Humble Arts Foundation
"A Series of Occurrences", Self Publish, Be Happy, Online, November 7
"The Many Faces of Things", Topic, Issue No. 4, Online, October 3
Humble Cats: New Cats in Art Photography, Yoffy Press
"In Praise of Corners", Unseen Magazine, Issue #4 (Autumn 2017)
“Terrain Vague”, Der Greif, Online, June 9
“Paradise Out-Front at The Souther Gallery”, Lenscratch, Online, January 27
“Paradise Out-Front” catalog, The Southern
2016
“An Index of Walking”, Phroom Magazine, Online, November 5
“It Could Be Worse”, ADP Workshop
“A Game of Association”, Unseen Magazine, Issue #3 (Autumn 2016)
“Humble Origins”, Spot Magazine (Houston Center of Photography), Spring 2016 Issue
“Ben Alper: Landscape as Crime Scene”, Humble Arts Foundation, Online, July 19
“Porn and the Threat to Virility”, Time Magazine, Vol. 187, No. 13
“A New Nothing”, The British Journal of Photography, February 2016
“Ben Alper’s Background Noise”, Juxtapoz, Online, February 4
“The Scene”, Phases Magazine, Online, January 17
“A New Nothing”, Wavepool, Online, January 31
“Guest Room”, Der Greif, Online January 12
2015
“Criminal Mind”, California Sunday Magazine, October 2015
“Photographer of the Week”, Capricious, Online, July 29
“Friday Fry Up”, The Heavy Collective, Online, July 15
“Interview”, Paper Journal, Online, July 6
"Secondhand Simulation: Ben Alper's Adrift", BURNAWAY, Online, July 5
“New Cats in Art Photography”, Humble Arts Foundation
"Book Review: Adrift", Photo Eye, Online, June 18
"Ben Alper Turns a Cruise Ship Vacation Into a Cryptic Narrative with his New Book 'Adrift'", Humble Arts Foundation, Online, March 31
2014
Yet Magazine – Issue #7
“In Conversation With Ben Alper”, In The In-Between, Online, May 5
“Terrain Vague”, Paper Journal, Online, March 17
SoSo Magazine – Issue #1
“Fear and Loathing”, Art Photo Index, Online
Conjunction Magazine – Issue #4
2013
“A Conversation With Ben Alper”, Lavalette, Online, August 28
Dear Dave, – Issue # 15
Conveyor Magazine – Issue #5 (Spectre // Spectrum)
2012
Conscientious, Online, November 5
Young Curators, New Ideas IV Catalog – Meulensteen Gallery
Album Magazin – Issue #3 (The White Album)
Bite Magazine – Issue #3
2011
“Discrete Memories”, Shpilman Institute of Photography, Online, November 21
Unpublished Magazine – Issue #3
The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2 – Humble Arts Foundation
2010
Super Massive Black Hole, Issue 5 (Intimacy), Online
“Interview”, Mull It Over, Online
Booooooom, Online, March 23
Unless You Will, Issue 4, Online
“Snow Blind”, Landscape Stories, Online, February
2009
I Heart Photograph, Online, June 23
Ahorn Magazine, Issue 2, Online
2008
Flak Photo, Online, May 5
The Exposure Project – Issue #3 (Self published)
2007
The Exposure Project – Issue #2 (Self published)
2006
The Exposure Project – Issue #1 (Self published)
In the Loupe – Photographic Resource Center

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS + AWARDS

2015
The Anamorphosis Prize (shortlisted)
Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award, Duke University
Image Text Ithaca - Junior Fellow 
2014
Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant

ARTIST TALKS, PANEL DISCUSSIONS + SYMPOSIA
Hiding In Plain Sight, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany (March 25, 2022)
Everyday Vernacular, Common House, Charlottesville, VA (July 19, 2018)
Book Works, Sloane Art Library, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (October 25, 2017)
Mass Art Alumni Panel, Massachusetts College of Art & Design (March 28, 2017)
An Index of Walking, "Photography in Context" class, Duke University (November 1, 2016)
This is your land..., Eye South Photography Symposium, Columbus State University (October 15, 2016)
In the event of misinterpretation or human error, Image Text Ithaca, Ithaca College (July 9, 2015)

PRINTS + EDITIONS

Image Text Ithaca - fold-out poster
Paper Journal - editioned print
Gyroscope Prints - postcard subscription series 
Interleaves - Oranbeg Press - fold-out poster

INTERVIEWS

Form Magazine (interview conducted by Justin Baez)
Humble Arts Foundation (interview conducted by Jon Feinstein)
Wavepool (interview conducted by Kyle Seis)
Paper Journal (interview conducted by Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa)
In The In-Between (interview conducted by Gregory Jones)
Lavalette (interview conducted by Zach Nader)
Photo Op (interview conducted by Jon Feinstein)
Mossless Magazine (interview conducted by SuperMassiveBlackHole)
All of This Rocket Science (Interview conducted by Pauline Magnenat)
Mull It Over (Interview conducted by Jonathan Cherry)
01 Magazine (Interview conducted by Jeff Otto O'Brien)

COLLECTIONS

The Museum of Modern Art Library - New York, NY
Franklin Furnace Artists' Books Collection - New York, NY
Indie Photobook Library - Washington, D.C.
Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, Yale University - New Haven, CT
Sloane Art Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill, NC
Archive of Documentary Arts, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University - Durham, NC

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art, Elon University (2017 - 2018)
Lecturer in Photography & Darkroom Manager, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2015 - 2016)
Lecturer in Photography, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2014 - 2015)
Visiting Lecturer in Photography, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2014)
Instructor of Record in Photography, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2013 - 2014)