Photography & Digital Art,Art & DesignOCT 6, 2025

This Virginia Artist Turns Family History And Grief Into Striking Visual Storytelling (20 Pics)

Memory is fragile, bending and reshaping over time—and in her powerful solo exhibition Blueprint, photographer Benita Mayo explores the personal and collective histories that shape who we are.

The project began in 2020, after the sudden passing of Mayo’s father, an event that shifted the ground beneath her life and sparked a profound reckoning with her past. Drawing on her family’s roots in Virginia—a state marked by slavery, the Civil War, and the fight for civil rights—Mayo confronts the inherited trauma and resilience that echo through generations.

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#1 A Walk In The Woods By Benita Mayo

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Guided by Toni Morrison’s words to “remember and do better,” her images weave intimate narratives with collective history, revealing landscapes that seem calm at first glance but are layered with grief, mourning, and quiet outrage. Through Blueprint, Mayo honors endurance, memory, and the courage to face difficult truths.

Benita Mayo is a visual artist based in Charlottesville, Virginia. A member of the Charlottesville Black Arts Collective and a resident at the McGuffey Art Center, her work explores grief, ancestry, and identity. She was a 2025 Critical Mass finalist and has been featured in Zeke Magazine, Lenscratch, and Virginia Quarterly Review.

Blueprint is currently featured in the All About Photo Solo Exhibition for October 2025, offering an intimate and contemplative journey through memory, loss, and healing.