Ben Hernstrom grew up in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, as it faded from flourishing industrial center to fallow ghost city. Through that lens, Ben became interested in urban alienation, the role of the environment in the health of communities and individuals, and value systems in times of extraordinary inequality. His practice consists of videos, digital photography, audio installations, performance, and concrete sculpture, all of which examine these topics and how they relate to otherness, identity, the body, citizenship, privilege, waste and control.
His work has been exhibited in galleries and festivals in Europe and the United States. Currently, he lives in Colorado and continues to work on various projects, including a series of audio/video installations which investigate the fragility of sensory perception, and a series of concrete sculptures which serve as ritual objects for meditating on the conflicts between global capitalism and the health of our world and ourselves.