Margaret Benyon

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Margaret Benyon's Website

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Initially a painter, Margaret Benyon began to make holograms in 1968 when holography was available only to scientists. Her aim was to take holography out of the science lab, and to enlarge the boundaries of what was traditionally seen as fine art.

Her early body of work with holography was an exploration of those aspects that were unique to it. Living in Australia with her partner and two small children in the 1970's led to work that was more humanist and cross-cultural. On returning to the UK in 1980 she began to use the human body exclusively, in a personal, partly therapeutic way. More recently she has been exploring the naturalisation of holography, and the female aesthetic.

Her work with creative holography has been recognised with academic fellowships, artists' residencies, and a number of other art and holography related awards. She is currently listed in the International Who's Who, and in the millenium year she was awarded an MBE by HM the Queen in the New Year Honours List 2000 for services to art. Her work has been seen in a large number of exhibitions, in countries as far apart as the USA, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and China. Her works are in a number of public collections, including the Australian National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and in an undocumented number of private collections world-wide. In 1994 she received a Ph.D. from the Royal College of Art, London, for her research and activities in art holography.

Margaret Benyon made most of her holograms in her home studio on the south coast of England for 23 years. This was a basic, low-tech, non-commercial holographic studio, one of very few in existence. However, she also used more sophisticated international labs, and in 2005 moved to Sydney, Australia. She became an honorary Professorial Visiting Fellow at the College of Fine Art at the University of New South Wales, and continued to work internationally from Australia.

Her health eventually decline in her latter years. She passed away October 21, 2016 at age 76.