Exhibition at The Left Bank Features Two Bennington Students

On Saturday November 15, The Left Bank, a community gathering space in North Bennington, hosted an opening reception for the exhibition, “In Dark Days, O Say Can You See?”  The show includes work by twenty different artists, including two Bennington students: Devan Spiro and Oliver Wiesmann.

The exhibition is an opportunity for artists to respond to the current moment in American politics. Spiro and Weismann’s large-scale black-and-white photographs hang next to each other in the gallery, both featuring scenes from local political protests. 

Spiro and Weismann have regularly been documenting protests in the Bennington area together, and Spiro described the two photos as a collaboration piece. Spiro’s photo depicts the Bennington Bridge Brigade, an organization that gathers to display signs and flags on the Eagle Bridge overpass, while Weisman’s shows anti-Trump protesters at the four corners.

Weismann explained that it has been interesting to document protests in a politically-divided, rural community like Bennington. Even though political issues such as ICE deportations have not had the same major effect as in metropolitan areas, Weismann has noticed that Bennington residents are still “paranoid” and eager to take action.

Spiro also said that protesters in Bennington have experienced antagonism and fearmongering from other people in the community. After Charlie Kirk was shot, Bennington Indivisible, a local chapter of the anti-Trump grassroots movement, recommended members take a break from protesting to protect their safety. “Since we’ve become more integrated into these protest groups they’ve also seen us as a protective force of visibility and accountability,” Spiro shared. Frequenting these protests has allowed Spiro and Weismann to develop relationships with the different groups: “it’s really allowed us to connect with the community in a way we hope to use that will benefit the whole campus,” stated Weismann.

Spiro and Weismann are interested in the history of organizing in Bennington and how it has bridged the town and the college in the past. Spiro said he would like this relationship to be revitalized, and for students to have more awareness of how the college has been a part of the activism and mutual aid happening in the greater community.

In an attempt to do just this, Spiro and Weismann have devised a mutual aid group they are starting on campus, called REAL (Research, Education, Action, Liberation). Recently, they have brought speakers to the college to discuss resistance and organization, and have tabled at concerts and art events in order to educate students about how they can support the Bennington community. In the spring, they want to start organizing events in town that give students and community members the chance to interact in person.

They would also like to see this framework spread to places beyond Bennington. By creating spaces where people can have conversations about the political state of the country, Spiro believes we can start thinking about how to respond in a way that is not as reactionary as has been emulated in the divisiveness of many on both the left and the right. “What we’re doing is not new,” said Spiro, “it’s adaptable.”

The Left Bank Gallery is open from 10am-2pm on Tuesday and Friday and from 5:30pm-7:30pm on Wednesday. “In Dark Days, O Say Can You See?” is on view until January 9, 2026.