Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes at Aviva Studios
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
It was a huge hit at MIF23 and went on to tour the world. We’re thrilled that Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes returns to Manchester this spring.
Fusing photography with performance, Find Your Eyes is a live photography show, created by the award-winning British photographer Benji Reid. An artist like no other, Reid invites a live theatre audience to take a behind-the-scenes look at his life and practice in this acclaimed show at Aviva Studios.
Beginning his career as a performer and creative director over three decades ago, Reid is an award-winning and senior contributor to Black physical theatre. He has produced and performed over thirty works for international cultural institutions including The National Theatre, Birmingham Rep, PS122 (New York) and Sydney Opera House. Merging his performance practice with photography, Reid began producing images in 2012.
Known for his award-winning Afro-futurist images, Reid describes himself as a “choreo-photolist”, an artist who works with photography, choreography and theatre. Creating vivid and often surreal images, Reid’s work expresses his experiences living as a Black man in the UK today.
Find Your Eyes is a show that exposes the photographer at work. In this perceptive production, the performance area becomes a studio for Reid to create live photographs in front of an audience. Weaving in choreography and theatre, this highly visual production is punctuated with storytelling, as Reid interlaces landmark moments from his life.
A live photographic experience, Find Your Eyes exposes the artistic process, but also looks at photography as a way to explore personal struggles of vulnerability, tragedy and triumph. Striking and sensitive, full of light and shade, you’ve got a second chance to catch this genre-bending, unique performance – don’t miss out.
