To accompany the opening of Benji Reid’s Laugh At Gravity exhibition at October Gallery, T. S. Eliot Prize recipient Roger Robinson will be in conversation with the artist on Saturday, 4th September, 2021, from 3–4.30 pm London GMT
Benji Reid considers himself a choreo-photolist, a term he coined to encapsulate his unique practice where theatricality, choreography, and photography meet in the image. His breathtaking photographs, comprised primarily of self-portraits in incredible, anti-gravitational poses with a medley of props, draw the audience into a different dimension. In the hyper-realities he presents, the subject is liberated by acts of the artist’s imagination. Whether exploring life as an outsider, issues surrounding mental health, or complexities of fatherhood, Reid makes the audience part of the discussion. Each perfectly poised portrait, set against vivid backdrops and adorned with fantastical objects, addresses the world we live in. Everyday objects like a paddle, a sparkler, or a stool transform and transport the subject into an alternative reality, which offers protection and liberation. Reid was shortlisted for the Wellcome Photography Prize 2020 and received the award for the Mental Health (single image) category for his work Holding onto Daddy (2016).
Roger Robinson is a writer who has performed worldwide. He is the winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019 and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2020, and is a Royal Society of Literature fellow. He was chosen by Decibel as one of fifty writers who have influenced the Black-British writing canon. His latest collection, A Portable Paradise, was a New Statesman book of the year. He is an alumnus of The Complete Works and was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, the Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, commended by the Forward Poetry Prize, and shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2020. He has received commissions from the National Trust, London Open House, the BBC, the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A, INIVA, MK Gallery, and Theatre Royal Stratford East, where he also was an associate artist. He is an experienced workshop leader and has toured extensively with the British Council. His workshops have been part of a shortlist for the Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries, and were also a part of the Barbican’s Webby Award-winning ‘Can I Have a Word?’. He is co-founder of both Spoke Lab and the international writing collective Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist for King Midas Sound and has also recorded solo albums with Jahtari Records.
For any enquiries contact the Gallery at events@octobergallery.co.uk.
Source: October Gallery
Image credit: Benji Reid, Moebius II, 2020. Giclée Print, 100 x 100 cm. Edition of 8 plus 2 artist’s proofs (#1/8)
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