Mark Bennett

Mark Bennett is a graphic designer, art director and imagemaker based in Toronto, ON. While he has previously worked in a commercial agency context, Bennett considers his primary passion to be in design and is a current undergraduate architecture student at the University of Toronto. While completing his degree, he also serves as the Art Director for UofTMed Magazine, a publication of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. 

Bennett previously studied business and graphic design at the College of the North Atlantic in St. John’s, NL, where he was first introduced to the art community through networks of local galleries, exhibitions and artists. Soon after, he secured an opportunity in 2010 to visit Fogo Island to photograph and document the artists, designers and craftspeople that created the iconic furniture and spaces of the Shorefast initiatives. This experience continues to influence his work to this day by changing his perspective about his home province.

Inspired by his culture as well as the distinctive aesthetic of Newfoundland and Labrador, Bennett centers the exploration of identity in his own design philosophies. Life up to this point was always a question of “where do I fit in?” as someone who is mixed Inuk and white. Currently, he is focused on spatial design in his studies, with an emphasis on Indigenous design and the way that people experience a given space in relation to their own identities.

“What is true to me and what do I want to express?” He says, “No matter the medium, I am looking at and breaking down my identity and constantly questioning it.” [1]