Sadie Benning (b. 1973) developed an early interest in film, using a Fisher-Price toy camcorder to create one of their first video works at the age of fifteen. Regarded as a seminal figure in gay and lesbian cinema, and in particular pre-Internet video-work, Benning's short films often feature autobiographical content in fragmented narratives that address feminism, gender identity, and youth and popular cultures. Benning's more recent painting and mixed media pieces are made from jigsaw-cut wood, resins and acrylic. Despite this shift in media, a conceptual relationship remains: constructions of identity become realized in abstracted cutouts.