Benji Reid

Last updated

Benji Reid
Photographer Benji Reid by Beki Bateson.jpg
Benji Reid in 2021
NationalityBritish
Occupationphotographer
Website benjireid.com

Benji Reid (born 1966) is a British photographer, visual theatre maker, and educator. His work focuses on the intersection of race, nationhood, and gender with particular attention to the Black British experience, Black masculinity, and mental health. [1]

Contents

His photograph Holding on to Daddy (2016) was the winner of the Wellcome Photography Prize 2020 Mental Health category. [2] A pioneer of hip-hop theatre and culture in the United Kingdom, [3] Reid defines himself as a "choreo-photolist", a term he coined [4] [5] to refer to the practice of merging theatre and choreography in his photography. [6]

His work was shown at the MoCADA Museum in New York, [7] Somerset House in London, [8] and Design Fair Paris. [9]

Early years

Benji Reid grew up in Manchester in a family who was actively involved in the arts and in which artistic training was highly valued.[ citation needed ] Together with sisters Joan, Beverly, and Claudia,[ citation needed ] Reid was introduced to music and dance from a very young age: "I knew from an early age I was going to be an artist. Dance was my first love, but as time evolved I became more interested to drama and story telling." [10] Reid took an interest in contemporary dance at the age of seven when he started attending shows with his mother at the local Palace Theatre.[ citation needed ] In 1974, at the age of eight, he underwent a major heart bypass surgery. [10] This episode shaped Reid's existentialist look on life and art and his fascination with mortality and the human condition. [10] Despite his health issues, he taught himself the robot dance which was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s and this segued into popping. [11] Between 1984 and 1986, Reid toured nationally and internationally with Broken Glass, one of the main breakdance crews in the United Kingdom. [12]

Dance and theatre

In 1986, Reid started attending the Northern School of Contemporary Dance where he studied ballet, contemporary, choreography, and lighting design. [13] In 1990, after his first theatre experience in Alan Lyddiard's production of The Tempest for the Edinburgh Festival, [14] Reid auditioned for Soul II Soul at The Fridge nightclub in Brixton, London, became chief dancer and co-choreographer for some of their numbers, [15] and went on a world tour as part of the collective after the release of their multi-award winning album Club Classics Vol. One . [16]

After his training as a dancer and the experience with Soul II Soul, Reid trained for a year with David Glass [17] and toured nationally with him. Between 1992 and 1994, Reid worked with director Denise Wong [18] and the Black Mime [19] theatre company on the shows Heart and EDR. In 1994-1995, he directed Jonzi D’s solo of Aeroplane Man; [20] again in partnership with Jonzi D, Reid co-created the pieces Silence da Bitchin' [21] and Cracked (1995) while, in 1996-1997, he wrote and starred in Paper Jackets. [22]

The first main stage play directed by Reid was the hip-hop musical Avalanche for Nottingham Playhouse (1998). [23] This show marked the foundation of Reid’s company Breaking Cycles. [24] In the mid-1990s, hip-hop theatre was developing simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom, but Jonzi D and Reid were pivotal in connecting the two areas when they took part in the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in New York in the early 2000s. [25] [26] Reid was the curator of The Illness, the first night of hip-hop theatre at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London (2000) with Jim Parris, DJ Bizniss, Robert Hylton, Jonzi D, and Abstract Dance (Mo Ideas and Frank Wilson). [27] In 2003-2004, Jonzi D also directed Reid’s 13 Mics. [28] Reid's play The Holiday (2000), tackling mental health and suicide, has been internationally acclaimed; [29] it toured to PS122 in New York, [30] the Sydney Opera House, Linbury Theatre (Royal Opera House), QEH Theatre, and Contact Theatre. In 2006 Reid founded Process 06, "the UK's first ever artist-led hip hop theatre festival" [31] and an opportunity to explore hip-hop theatre as an educational tool.

Photography and choreo-photolism

When his company was left without funds in 2011, Reid’s journey into photography started. [32] A father of two, he began with a camera he had previously used to document theatre work and employed it to record his younger daughter growing up. [33] [34] Reid has stated that “some people came out of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance as dancers, I came out as an artist”; [35] his artistic approach is summarised by the term choreo-photolism, a word he coined to refer to the encounter of photography, choreography, theatre, and storytelling in his work. [36] [37] Embracing photography was an act of resistance towards financial instability and the limitations of his everyday life: "Taking pictures became an act of revolution for me. It was an act of defiance that I was still going to continue making work without getting funded." [32] Up to that point, theatre had been his primary means of expression: as a theatre director, he had always worked with bodies in space, [33] but his challenge in photography has been condensing a story in an image through the use of everyday objects turned into fantastical props. [38] Reid's first photography exhibition was A Thousand Words at Contact Theatre in Manchester in October 2016. [39]

From a love note to his daughter to exploring mental health through surreal portraits and self-portraits, [40] [41] photography for Reid also represents a possibility to celebrate love and fragility challenging stereotypes of Black masculinity. [42] Other relevant themes in his production are Black fatherhood, life as an outsider, and mental health. [5] Reid refers to his creative work as "part ritual, part photography, and part prayer." [42]

2023 marked Reid’s return to theatre with a work that combines his photographic practice with his previous career in the performing arts. Find Your Eyes (Manchester Academy, 12-16 July 2023), a meditation on the creative process, is a live stage performance incorporating "dance, theatre telling, and photography." [43] In the show, Reid stages the private moment of the creation of his photographs and shares memories from his life with a live audience: [44] "Woven into the narration are episodes of Reid's own life. He calls what he does 'conflict photography', not images of the battlefield, but the ravages of everyday war, especially that of a Black person in the UK. He exposes the conflicts of his own life, to distressing depths of despair: addiction, depression, racism, the social care system. But he also shows us creativity, fantasy, collaboration and imagination taking flight." [45] Find Your Eyes was also at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam from 1 to 3 October 2023 [46] and at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale in July 2024. [47]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

2021: Benji Reid: Laugh at Gravity, October Gallery, London, England [48] [49]

2016: A Thousand Words, Contact Theatre, Manchester, England [50] [51]

Selected group exhibitions

2022: In the Light: Photographic works by James Barnor, Benji Reid, Alexis Peskine and Zana Masombuka, October Gallery, London, England [52]

2022: A Modest Show, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England [53]

2021: Shadow to Substance, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Florida, USA [54]

2021: Photo London, with October Gallery, London, England [55]

2021: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, (online) with October Gallery, London, England [56]

2021: 50 Windows of Creativity, The National Football Museum, Manchester, England [57]

2020: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, with October Gallery, London, England [58]

2020: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, (online) with October Gallery, London, England [59]

2020: Atmospheres: Artists of the Transavantgarde, October Gallery, London, England [60]

2020: Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, England [61]

2019: Get Up, Stand Up Now, Somerset House, London, England [62]

2019: AKAA (Also Known As Africa), Paris, France with October Gallery, London, England [63]

2019: Styles of Resistance: From the Corner to the Catwalk, MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts), New York, USA [64]

List of awards

Dance

1988: 1st Place – Champion d’Europe Electric Boogie IDO (Macon, France) [65]

1986: 2nd Place – Campionato del Mondo Electric Boogie IDO (Montecatini, Italy) [66]

1986: 3rd Place – World Dance Festival Electric Boogie IDO (Italy) [65]

1986: U.K. Body Popping Champion (Manchester, England) [65]

Theatre

2005: NESTA Dreamtime Fellowship [67] [68]

2005: Finalist - ART05 Outstanding Achievement in the Arts in the North West (Liverpool) [69]

Photography

2020: Mental Health Single Image Winner – Wellcome Trust Photography Prize [2] [70]

Related Research Articles

Dame Sonia Dawn Boyce is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, living and working in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a social practice and the critical and contextual debates that arise from this area of study. Boyce has been closely collaborating with other artists since 1990 with a focus on collaborative work, frequently involving improvisation and unplanned performative actions on the part of her collaborators. Boyce's work involves a variety of media, such as drawing, print, photography, video, and sound. Her art explores "the relationship between sound and memory, the dynamics of space, and incorporating the spectator". To date, Boyce has taught Fine Art studio practice for more than 30 years in several art colleges across the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ekow Eshun</span> British writer (born 1968)

Ekow Eshun is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Snoddy</span> British artist and gallery director (born 1959)

Stephen Snoddy is a British artist and gallery director.

Keith Piper is a British artist, curator, critic and academic. He was a founder member of the groundbreaking BLK Art Group, an association of black British art students, mostly based in the West Midlands region of the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alistair Spalding</span>

Sir Alistair Spalding has been the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Sadler's Wells theatre since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakin' Convention</span> London hip-hop festival

Breakin’ Convention is an international hip-hop theatre festival based in London, England that was founded in 2004 and is produced annually by Sadler's Wells theatre. It has been under the artistic direction of playwright and dancer Jonzi D since its inception. Since May 2008 Breakin’ Convention has expanded its activity beyond the three-day festival to include tours across the UK, developing new theatre work with local hip-hop artists, and to produce year-round professional development courses for UK-based hip-hop choreographers, artists, and dance/theatre companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janette Beckman</span> British documentary photographer

Janette Beckman is a British documentary photographer who has worked in London, New York and Los Angeles. Beckman describes herself as a documentary photographer. While she produces a lot of work on location, she is also a studio portrait photographer. Her work has appeared on records for the major labels, and in magazines including Esquire,Rolling Stone,Glamour,Italian Vogue,The Times,Newsweek,Jalouse,Mojo and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hip-hop theater</span> Theatrical genre

Hip-hop theater is a form of theater that presents contemporary stories through the use of one or more of the four elements of hip-hop culture—b-boying, graffiti writing, MCing (rapping), and DJing. Other cultural markers of hip-hop such as spoken word, beatboxing, and hip-hop dance can be included as well although they are not always present. What is most important is the language of the theatrical piece and the plot's relevance to the world. Danny Hoch, the founder of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, further defines it as such: "Hip-hop theatre must fit into the realm of theatrical performance, and it must be by, about and for the hip-hop generation, participants in hip-hop culture, or both."

Wendy McMurdo specialises in photography and digital media. In 2018 she was named as one of the Hundred Heroines, an award created by the Royal Photographic Society to showcase global female photographic practice.

Tim Conlon is an American artist and graffiti writer known for large-scale murals and works on canvas. He was featured as one of several artists in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibit, Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture, which included four large graffiti murals painted by Conlon and collaborator, David Hupp in 2008. This marked the first modern graffiti ever to be in the Smithsonian Institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lubaina Himid</span> British artist and curator (born 1954)

Lubaina Himid is a British artist and curator. She is a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire. Her art focuses on themes of cultural history and reclaiming identities.

Araminta de Clermont is a British photographer who in 2010 was living and working in London, although she had spent nearly ten years living in Cape Town. Her work explores rites of passage, and the visual currencies of group identification and is particularly concerned with highlighting the art forms and self-expression of her often marginalised subjects. She is perhaps best known for her bodies of work exploring the relationship between person and environment in South Africa. In 2010 she was a winner of Spier Contemporary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HOME (Manchester)</span> Art centre in Manchester, England

HOME is an arts centre, cinema and theatre complex in Manchester, England. With five cinemas, two theatres and 500 m2 (5,400 sq ft) of gallery space, it is one of the few arts organisations to commission, produce and present work across film, theatre and visual art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qasim Riza Shaheen</span> British artist and writer (born 1971)

Qasim Riza Shaheen is a British artist and writer based in Manchester. Working across participatory performance, installation, film and photography, Shaheen's practice explores memory, notions of beauty, sexuality, love and, more broadly, fundamental concerns about human nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zineb Sedira</span> Algerian photographer, artist (born 1963)

Zineb Sedira is a London-based Franco-Algerian feminist photographer and video artist, best known for work exploring the human relationship to geography.

Ajamu X is a British artist, curator, archivist and activist. He is best known for his fine art photography which explores same-sex desire, and the Black male body, and his work as an archivist and activist to document the lives and experiences of black LGBTQ people in the United Kingdom (UK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Factory International</span> Theatre in Manchester, England

Factory International runs Manchester International Festival and operates Aviva Studios, a cultural space in Manchester, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zak Ové</span> British-Trinidad visual artist (born 1966)

Zak Ové is a British-Trinidad visual artist who works between sculpture, film and photography, living in London and Trinidad. His themes reflect "his documentation of and anthropological interest in diasporic and African history, specifically that which is explored through Trinidadian carnival." In work that is "filtered through his own personal and cultural upbringing, with a black Trinidadian father and white Irish mother", he has exhibited widely in Europe, the United States and Africa, participating in international museum shows in London, Dakar, Paris, Dubai, Prague, Berlin, Johannesburg, Bamako and New York City. His father is the filmmaker Horace Ové and his sister is the actress Indra Ové.

Adama Delphine Fawundu Adama Delphine Fawundu is an artist born in Brooklyn, NY the ancestral space of the Lenni-Lanape. She is a descendant of the Mende, Krim, Bamileke, and Bubi peoples. Her multi-sensory artistic language centers around themes of indigenization and ancestral memory. Fawundu co-published the critically acclaimed book MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora with photographer Laylah Amatullah Barrayn. – MFON is a book featuring the diverse works of women and non-binary photographers of African descent. Her works have been presented in numerous exhibitions worldwide. She is a Professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University.

The Wellcome Photography Prize is an annual photography competition organised by the Wellcome Trust. It was established in 1997 as the Wellcome Image Awards, for science image making. It was renamed in a revamp and expansion in 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Holding on to Daddy". MHT. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Wellcome Photography Prize 2020". Wellcome Trust . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  3. ↑ Crompton, Sarah (14 July 2023). "Manchester international festival: Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes; Tino Sehgal: This Entry – review". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Super Powers Of The Choreo-Photolist". Onyinye Ubah. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  5. 1 2 Elmer, Kailas (3 September 2021). "Laugh At Gravity - Benji Reid". Trebuchet. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "The stunning work of Benji Reid, The Choreo-Photolist". NevahBlackDown. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "TOUR NOTES JANUARY 2019 Styles of Resistance" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "At Somerset House, Half a Century of Black Creativity is On Display". Widewalls. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  9. ↑ T. S. A. Editors (18 July 2021). "AKAA Announces Its 6th Edition at Carreau du Temple, Paris". The Sole Adventurer. Retrieved 17 August 2021.{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  10. 1 2 3 partnerships (26 January 2017). "Interview with Benji Reid". HCAC. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "RealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 53 - Benji Reid: winning body popper". www.realtimearts.net. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  12. ↑ "Broken Glass". Electrofunkroots. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Artists & Trainers – David Glass Ensemble" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  14. ↑ "Benji Reid: The Art of Reinvention | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive". totaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Benji Reid". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 March 2003. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  16. ↑ Davis, Geoffrey V. (2006). Staging New Britain: Aspects of Black and South Asian Theatre Practice. P.I.E.-Peter Lang. p. 175.
  17. ↑ "Artists & Trainers – David Glass Ensemble" . Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  18. ↑ Boon, Richard; Plastow, Jane, eds. (2004). Theatre and Empowerment: Community Drama on the World Stage. Cambridge University Press. p. 75.
  19. ↑ "Black Mime Theatre Company Records - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  20. ↑ "Aeroplane Man | BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "Benji Reid: The Art of Reinvention | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive". totaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  22. ↑ "Paper Jackets | BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  23. ↑ "Avalanche | BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  24. ↑ "Benji Reid Breaking Cycles". Z-arts. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  25. ↑ "2nd NYC Hip-Hop Theater Festival Comes to an End at P.S. 122, June 30". Playbill. 30 June 2001. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  26. ↑ Williams, Justin A., ed. (2015). The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop. Cambridge University Press. pp. 293–294.
  27. ↑ Adewole, Oluwafunmilayo A. (2017). British Dance and the African Diasporas, the Discourses of Theatrical Dance and the Art of Choreography: 1985 to 2005 (PhD). De Monfort University Leicester. pp. 186-187.
  28. ↑ "Benji Reid - Arts Award". www.artsaward.org.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  29. ↑ "Your Ultimate Guide to B-Side Hip-Hop Festival". Birmingham Hippodrome. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  30. ↑ "P.S.122 | Performance Space New York". 27 December 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  31. ↑ "BBC - Manchester - Entertainment - Process 06: Hip Hop Theatre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  32. 1 2 "Benji Reid: The Art of Reinvention | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive". totaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  33. 1 2 "Episode 17 // Benji Reid - Neutral Exposure (podcast)". Listen Notes. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  34. ↑ "Collection". Benji Reid.com. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  35. ↑ "Benji Reid: The Art of Reinvention | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive". totaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  36. ↑ "The Super Powers Of The Choreo-Photolist". Onyinye Ubah. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  37. ↑ "Benji Reid Laughs At Gravity". Latitudes Editorial. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  38. ↑ Elmer, Kailas (3 September 2021). "Laugh At Gravity - Benji Reid". Trebuchet. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  39. ↑ "Benji Reid: A Thousand Words". Design Manchester. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  40. ↑ Barlow, Nigel. "Wellcome Photography Prize 2020 winners announced including Manchester-based Benji Reid" . Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  41. ↑ "T14 - Surreal Weightlessness with Benji Reid - Trebuchet". Spreaker. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  42. 1 2 "Workshops and Masterclasses". Benji Reid.com. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  43. ↑ In the Studio with Benji Reid | Interview | Factory International , retrieved 2 September 2023
  44. ↑ "Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes". MIF t/a Factory International. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  45. ↑ Winship, Lyndsey (16 July 2023). "Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes review – powerful, wondrous ways of seeing". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  46. ↑ "Find Your Eyes". Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  47. ↑ "Biennale Danza 2024 | Biennale Danza 2024: We Humans". La Biennale di Venezia. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  48. ↑ "OCTOBER GALLERY: BENJI REID: Laugh at Gravity". octobergallery.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  49. ↑ Stone, Mee-Lai (8 September 2021). "Drag queens to cloud surfers: highlights from Photo London 2021 – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  50. ↑ "Benji Reid: A Thousand Words". Design Manchester. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  51. ↑ "Benji Reid: A Thousand Words". Black History Month 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  52. ↑ "OCTOBER GALLERY: IN THE LIGHT: Photographic works by James Barnor, Benji Reid, Alexis Peskine and Zana Masombuka". octobergallery.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  53. ↑ "A Modest Show at The Whitworth South Gallery". A Modest Show. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  54. ↑ "Coffee with the Curators: A Work of Heart | Harn Museum of Art". harn.ufl.edu. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  55. ↑ "October Gallery - Photo London". photolondon.org. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  56. ↑ "1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  57. ↑ "'50 Windows of Creativity' - Bee in the City team to create new Manchester art trail". Confidentials. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  58. ↑ "1-54 London 2020". nataal.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  59. ↑ "Exhibition 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair - artist, news & exhibitions - photography-now.com". photography-now.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  60. ↑ "Atmospheres: Artists of the Transvangarde on artnet". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  61. ↑ "Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020 Catalogue" (PDF).
  62. ↑ "Get Up, Stand Up Now: Exhibition highlights - Somerset House". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  63. ↑ "Exhibition AKAA - Also known as Africa - artist, news & exhibitions - photography-now.com". photography-now.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  64. ↑ "Styles of Resistance: From the Corner to the Catwalk". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  65. 1 2 3 "Benji Reid". Royal Court. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  66. ↑ "IDO - International Dance Organization". www.ido-dance.com. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  67. ↑ "Black Theatre Live". www.blacktheatrelive.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  68. ↑ "New Artistic Appointments at the Royal Exchange Theatre | News | Royal Exchange Theatre". www.royalexchange.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  69. ↑ "New Artistic Appointments at the Royal Exchange Theatre | News | Royal Exchange Theatre". Royal Exchange, Manchester . 8 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  70. ↑ Kastilan, Sonja (18 August 2020). "Wellcome Photography Prize: Unsichtbares Leid in starken Bildern". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 14 August 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.