Artist's Statement
The harsh prairie surrounding Westhope, North Dakota, once covered with farms, is peppered with oil rigs. As drilling depletes this non-renewable resource, the descendants of Midwestern farmers-turned-drillers face the challenge of a dwindling livelihood. But fifty years after the first discovery of oil, the landscape of Westhope transforms as the oil pumps slow and sunflowers, canola and other bio-diesel crops are planted. In "Westhope: Above and Below," Benine explores and examines Westhope, its 550 people, and its oil and bio-diesel fields. She searches for traces of the adaptation in industry and environment, witnessing the community's return to its agricultural roots—and the coexistence of, and tension between, oil and farming.