The Valley is delighted to present an exhibition of new works by Birmingham, Alabama based artist Laura Benson. An avid collector and researcher, Benson works with found materials, stories, and symbols to create objects of ritual significance. Her works are often intended to function as portals, bridging past and present.

In her art and jewelry-making practices, Benson primarily draws upon references from the religious and esoteric traditions of Northwestern Europe. Detached from their original context, many of these traditions took new forms in the culture of the American South with the migration of European settlers to the region. These early American folk religions became distinct from the official doctrines of the sources they originated from and have continued to evolve and hybridize even into the present day. Working with folklore drawn from a variety of sources, Benson not only reinterprets these stories but also invites them to interact with contemporary spiritual and cultural discourses.

Her chosen materials also draw on the resourcefulness and ingenuity of folk art and craft practices. “I often use imagery and materials to bridge temporal gaps, and incorporating elements from folk art and craft traditions furthers this goal,” Benson explains. “For instance, my Gelli-plate prints use pages from old books, emphasizing storytelling and the intimacy of the book as a medium for sharing stories and information. This process mirrors how I work with found objects—scavenging for materials feels like collecting stories.”

In Where The Veil Thins, Benson takes inspiration from the Celtic concept of ‘thin places.’ Thin places are locations, times, or experiences where the boundary between different realms—such as the physical and the spiritual, the known and unknown, or the ordinary and the extraordinary—feels more permeable. Thin places act as a threshold, provoking a deep sense of connection to something beyond the human experience. The works in Where The Veil Thins reference elemental properties, symbols from the tarot, and folkloric creatures like fae, chimera, harpy, and sirens. These symbols, once part of ancient belief systems, have continued to permeate through the collective imagination, transcending their origins and becoming part of the shared cultural lexicon of those who pursue esoteric knowledge. 

Through this exhibition, Benson invites viewers to explore the intersections of history, spirituality, and memory, reflecting on the ways that materials and stories connect us across time.