Norman Mine is the artistic identity of London-based Italian artist Francesco Benenato, whose work spans performance, video, film, and socially engaged practice. Mine’s projects explore the psychological architecture behind daily life and artistic labour, drawing on fiction, paranoia, neurosis, and the subtle power structures that shape the seduction of visibility, the pressures of self-invention, and the complex dynamics of belonging within contemporary culture.
Working through shifting personas, most notably the visual artist Norman Mine and the actor-performer Dino Desica, Benenato uses character as a tool to articulate the backstage labour of being an artist today, moving between ambition, doubt, community, and the ongoing negotiation of one’s public and private roles.
Benenato’s work draws from Italian Neorealism, DIY aesthetics, and the interplay between lived experience and imaginative speculation. Recent projects include explorations of backstage exhaustion and artistic self-mythology.
The Flip Side of the Coin (Chemist Gallery, 2025).
Alongside his studio practice, Benenato leads community-focused projects grounded in access, care, and shared authorship. He is the founder of Norwood JunkAction, an eco-creative community-led project and serves on the Culture Access steering group, contributing his lived experience of learning disability to ongoing work on inclusivity.
Benenato has undertaken international residencies including The Saari Residence (Kone Foundation, Finland), Polyvocalcity (Theatrum Mundi), PAF (France), and the Penarth Centre (London Performance Studio). His work has been presented at Chemist Gallery, The Koppel Project, Bar.lina (Rome), Croydonites Festival, Amsterdam Fringe Festival, and Performance Istanbul.
He has received support and nominations from Film and Video Umbrella, Mayor of London Community Fund, DYCP (Arts Council England), and Croydon Loves You.
Mine continues to develop a practice centred on imagination, vulnerability, and the shifting emotional landscapes that shape how we make, perform, and share art today.