Extraordinary Images in Ordinary Places

As the eyes of the world focused on the athletic events during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio last year, Ben Arnon 98C focused his camera lens on the periphery.

Arnon’s perspective on the Rio Olympics earned him a solo exhibition that ran from October through December at Chelsea Market in New York City.

“My goal in photographing the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio was not only to make photographs highlighting epic athleticism, but also to capture the everyday life and the Olympic spirit as it manifested itself outside of the sports venues,” Arnon says. “In Rio, life continued to move forward. Despite facing an economic and political crisis, everyday Cariocas [Rio residents] kept living. They proudly shared their city with millions of people from around the world.”

As a visual journalist, Arnon focuses his work on documentary reporting,street portraiture, and the impact of human existence on urban landscape,examining themes of socioeconomic, racial, and class dynamics with “unflinching honesty.”

While a student at Emory, Arnon completed an honors thesis for his major in interdisciplinary studies in society and culture titled “Packaging Racial Identities: Market Segmentation in the US Recorded Music Industry.”

Arnon’s thesis examined the ways in which race has historically been used in the production, distribution, and marketing of recorded music. He also has an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Now a regular contributor of social commentary to Huffington Post, Arnon has worked in media for more than eighteen years at companies including Jersey Films, Universal Pictures, Universal Music Group, Yahoo! Media, Blue State Digital, Wildfire, and Google.