Ron Benner
Ron Benner (born 1949) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist whose longstanding practice investigates the history and political economics of food cultures. He is also a gardener and writer who currently lives and works in London, Ontario. Early life and career. Ron Benner studied agricultural engineering for one year at the University of Guelph (1969–70). Finding himself ethically opposed to bioengineering, he began to travel and research the politics of food, and work as an artist in London, Ontario. From 1975 through 1981, Ron was a member of the Forest City Artists' Association, and was manager of the  Forest City Gallery in 1980–81. In 1983 he co-founded the Embassy Cultural House and served on the board until 1990. Co-organized the Mérida/London exchange (1980/81), as well as the Havana/London exchange (1988). In 1989 he was an artist/observer of the 3rd Havana Biennial. In 2010 he was appointed Adjunct Research Professor in the Visual Arts Department, Western University. His mixed media photographic installations are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Hart House (The University of Toronto), Museum London (London, Ontario), McIntosh Gallery (The University of Western Ontario ), The Canada Council Art Bank and the Casa de Las Americas (Havana, Cuba). Garden installations. Ron's photographic garden installations have been installed in locations across Canada and in Salamanca and Sevilla, Spain. Involved with long-term and immersive research and physical investigation, these photos and species trace back the colonial history, militarization of food, and map plants' economic and aesthetic values. In 2020, Museum London documented Ron's garden in its 14th year entitled "As the Crow Flies".