benji sheppard /// @banjofromnowhere
Benji Sheppard, Design Academy Eindhoven 2026 graduate, multimedia designer and storyteller from St. Augustine, Florida, creates work influenced by experiences in the conservative South, religious deconstruction, and class division. He communicates complex experiences through various mediums, from steel to sound, adapting the approach to each project's unique demands.
**selected for exhibition at Young at Night at De Fabriek Eindhoven on March 14, 2025**
boxed-in is a collection of 8 wearable sculptures modeled after 8 of the most formative houses that I lived in during my youth. The sculptures are modeled in a horror-inspired photoshoot, telling the story of a home invasion and further elaborating on the more disorienting and terrifying aspects of such an unstable childhood.
#1 FOREST DUNE
A nuclear family in American suburbiaa house on the beach
and the middle class dream
It’s all a bit fragile isn’t it
The year is 2007
Everything caves in on itself
Turn your eyes to the heavens for hope
Settle the mortgage
Lay low until things get better
He will fix things
#2 SEASCAPE
Friend of a friend’s investment property
I remember a hallway through the sky with windows
and a hot tub full of tadpoles.
My mom looked out for snakes while I gathered some for school
Box fort in the garage
Lots of empty space
Wouldn’t be there long enough to settle
Easter egg hunt before we leave again
It smelled like a basement
#3 167TH
I liked to stay outside
Cockroaches in the carpet
I remember a banyan tree to climb
an old box tv
and a decorative pot I hid in
I worked at the library, to get out for a while
You need good Christian Friends
Don’t talk to the other kids on the playground
#4 63RD
Dad built a house to sell, but no one wanted itCan’t pay for 2 houses
Can’t pay for 1
The only house in a village of horse farms
4 acres of sand and weeds
3 years
The longest I ever lived in one place
I rotted in the closet
#5 126TH
I stopped believing in God here
Cracked tile and holes in the drywall
You’re a ball and chain
15 and carrying the weight of a war
Parts of me replaced by your vision
Begging like a dog at the door
to be let in or to get out
If I didn’t get you to hate me, you’d never have let me leave
This was the last home I’ll know with you
for better or worse
#6 BUCHSLI
Permission to run away
to a home that would never be mine
Do you know how it feels to be a fly on the wall to the family you never had?
They’d never have to leave
I do
I have 1 year
I don’t remember much
I was too busy clinging on
The rescue boat is sinking
but I think I can see the shore
#7 REDWOOD
I’d hide under the dirt if I could
I’d hide in the freezer if I thought it would work
I’d hide behind you if I thought you’d protect me
There’s yelling from downstairs every night at 8
I wish I knew what you wanted from me
Pick up an extra shift to stave off another conversation
I’m inconvenient aren’t I
I’ll be gone soon dont worry
August 6th
1 more year
#8 BERKVEN
It feels like home this time
Not at first, not for a while
but it’s home
So then why am I grasping on like my life depends on it?
Why am I so scared it’ll be taken?
Why was I right?
In and out of love, in and out of home
Now I’m trapped
but it’s the happiest I’ve been
I can’t risk losing that
I can’t let more be taken from me
A4 and A3 signed poster prints avaliable for purchase. Contact here for pricing and further details.