Bena Jackson

Town Kids (2021)

4 min 57 secSingle channel / Digital Video / Colour / Sound

"There are 275 texts remaining on your 500 text plan and 6 minutes left to wait for the bus. Rainbow seats, glowing walls, hot gossip. The click of phone buttons and a waft of Lynx and BO fills the air around you. When I imagine platform D, it smells like a vape cloud—even though vapes didn’t exist then.

Attending an inner-city school with a futuristic, alternative vibe, I had a taste of urban life before the destructive 2011 earthquakes in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Town Kids was first shown on a 3rd Generation iPod Nano in Camera Phone at play_station gallery, Wellington in 2021, a show envisaging an alternate direction for the rebuild and for my teenage years."

Artist Statement

    Other works by Bena Jackson

    In a backyard someone juices a lemon on the handlebar of an electric scooter. A red cap hangs off the handlebars too.
    Max Fleury / Bena Jackson

    One who goes quickly (2020)

    The Flamingo electric scooters, now ubiquitous in cities around Aotearoa, are repurposed as objects of whimsy.

    One who goes quickly
    A sculpture of a giant hand with a face stands atop a building. A bubble hovers in front of it. There is a screenshot of text at the bottom of the frame.
    Max Fleury / Bena Jackson

    Same thing everyday (2020)

    What does the perfect public artwork look like?

    Same thing everyday
    Standing by a sink someone trims the stems of freshly picked flowers. An open bottle of beer stands beside the sink.
    Bena Jackson / Max Fleury

    I am not a tiny sparrow AKA Bouquet for Max (2020)

    A long distance collaboration during a 2020 Covid lockdown

    I am not a tiny sparrow AKA Bouquet for Max
    Bena Jackson on CIRCUIT

    CIRCUIT is the
    leading voice
    for artist moving image
    practice
    in Aotearoa New Zealand,
    distributing works,
    critical review and
    dialogues
    which reflect our unique, contemporary
    South Pacific context.