Maya Benway

Architecture major

As a graduating senior at Wellesley College studying architecture and design, I am interested in the line as both as formal and conceptual tool, one that shapes space, conveys meaning, and transforms perception. Whether defining boundaries, guiding movement, or challenging expectations, the line in my work serves as a narrative device that extends beyond structure, influencing the way people experience and engage with space.

The City

laser-cut acrylic, red and black ink, paper

Jewett Sculpture Court

square artwork with black and white images of maps partially visible beneath a red square grid and many small clear etched square arch-like forms

There is a surprisingly frequent pattern in the history of cities that has echoed across time. A place exists, sometimes for centuries, and even flourishes. It often grows organically, its streets emerging without rigid planning, shaped instead by the movement of people, the flow of trade, and the randomness of daily life. Then a larger force arrives. It not only conquers the government and the people, but also redraws the map.

The City is a piece about the quiet, insidious power of maps in the making of imperial cities. Nearly 500 pieces of acrylic form a composition based on the traditional "quad" layout, a planning scheme historically used to impose order, enforce surveillance, and sustain hierarchies within a space. The pieces are arranged in a rigid, grid-like format, each separated by precise red lines that define the uniform roads between them.

Beneath this surface, a collage of grayscale maps is just barely visible. These maps are fragments of real places, cities from different parts of the world and different eras, all sharing a common narrative: organic beginnings overwritten by imperial design. Faint and obscured, they speak to the erased stories and interrupted histories buried beneath imposed order. The City invites viewers to consider how space is shaped not only by necessity but by power.

black and white maps overlaid with red grid lines and many small square clear etched forms that look like architectural arches

angled view of multiple square clear etched arch-like forms within a red line grid, over vaguely visible black and white maps

black and white images of bald eagle, canadian geese, text 'welcome to Lenapehoking Watershed' with red grid line overlay and square clear-etched arch-like forms

to see more work by Maya: Maya Benway Portfolio

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