Ben Zank (previously) captures emotions of confusion, restriction, and ennui in his ongoing series of banal-meets-bizarre photographs. Each image features a single subject in a seemingly mundane location: on a city sidewalk, near a semi-truck trailer, or in a forest. Yet the individual at hand is engaged with or affected by their surroundings in highly unusual ways: one figure bends backward under the weight of long birch branches stuffed under his shirt; another is sandwiched in a layer cake of collapsed cardboard boxes.

Zank shares with Colossal that he’s entering a season of productivity in his personal work as the weather warms, and is looking forward to a solo show in Shanghai, which will open in fall 2020.

Stay up to date with Zank’s surreal scenes on Instagram.