Simon Benjamin is a Jamaican artist and filmmaker based in New York, whose practice considers how the past ripples into the present in unexpected ways. Using the sea and coastal space as frameworks, his current body of work explores how lesser-known histories and colonial legacies impact on our present and contribute to an interconnected future. Benjamin’s work has been exhibited at documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany (2022); Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Governors Island, New York (2022); Kingston Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica (2022); trinidad+tobago film festival, Trinidad and Tobago (2021); NYU Gallatin at Governors Island, New York (2021); The 92nd St. Y, New York (2020); Brooklyn Public Library, New York (2019); Hunter East Harlem Gallery, New York (2019); the Ghetto Biennial, Port Au Prince, Haiti (2018); Jamaica Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica (2017); Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (2019); New Local Space, Kingston (2016); and Columbia University, New York (2016). Benjamin will be an Artist-in-Residence at Baxter St. CCNY in 2022, and has participated in residencies at Light Work, Syracuse, NY, Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY, Shandaken Projects, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, both on Governors Island in New York.

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On Childhood, 2019 | Single Channel Video, color, sound | Duration: 1:42
Inspired by an audio recording of a jovial conversation between Zimbabwean literary giants Chenjerai Hove and Charles Mungoshi.

simonbenjamin.com