Benji Reid

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Benji Reid
Benji Reid in 2021
NationalityBritish
Occupationphotographer
Websitebenjireid.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]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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 will be at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale in Summer 2024.[47]

Exhibitions[edit]

Selected solo exhibitions[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Dance[edit]

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[edit]

2005: NESTA Dreamtime Fellowship[67][68]

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

Photography[edit]

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Holding on to Daddy". MHT. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b "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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "Benji Reid: The Art of Reinvention | Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive". totaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  33. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c "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.

External links[edit]

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