In his own words, Benji Reid is a choreo-photolist, a blend of different arts: photography, choreography, theatre, and narration. On the modern art scene since the mid-1980s, Reid pioneered hip-hop theatre before he became an award-winning photographer
His work, whatever the discipline, explores those places where race, nationality, and gender intersect, with particular attention to blackness, mental health, and paternity. Find Your Eyes is a piece from 2023 that premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2023 and is a mix of Afro-futuristic images and personal stories, an exploration of vulnerability, tragedy, and success through a camera lens. Find Your Eyes is also a celebration of evolution, a journey forward. It means finding one’s breath and embracing the imperfections of life. A challenging work, too: emotional, for the sheer amount of personal history that is poured into the art, and for its production: Reid creates in real time before an audience. “I wanted to take my private artmaking and make it public, opening myself to a kind of vulnerability I never experienced before.”
