Simon Benjamin
Simon Benjamin
Simon Benjamin
Simon Benjamin (b. St. Andrew, Jamaica) is an artist and filmmaker based in New York City. He is interested in how the past ripples into the present in unexpected ways. His work has been included in exhibitions and screenings at Kingston Biennial, Jamaica (2021–upcoming); The 92nd St. Y, New York (2020); Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn (2019); Hunter East Harlem Gallery, New York (2019); Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (2019); Ghetto Biennial, Haiti (2017); Jamaica Biennial, Jamaica (2017); New Local Space, Kingston (2016); and Columbia University, New York (2016). He is currently a LMCC Artist in Residence at Govenor’s Island in New York City.
Errantry – Film (Excerpt)
2021 Three-Channel Video Installation with sound and sculpture Dimensions variable Duration: 11 mins
Simon Benjamin is a Jamaican artist and filmmaker living in New York, whose work includes experiential installations, photography, film, and sculpture. Through research, oral history, and critical fabulation, he calls attention to the contradictions entangled in the enduring myths and images of the Caribbean as tropical paradise–a carefully constructed imaginary that replaced the harsh reality of the exploitative plantation. With the intention of moving beyond critique and pointing to systems and power – he creates open-ended poetic and lyrical moving images and objects, which bring together the immaterial and the tactile. Rethinking the relationship of margin to center in archival representation, vernacular materials, such as cornmeal and fish traps, become sculptural elements, embedding multiple temporalities and narratives.
Simon Benjamin, Errantry – Film Stills, 2021
Errantry – Installation View
2021 Three-Channel Video Installation with sound and sculpture Dimensions variable Duration: 11 mins
Errantry – Installation View
Core II 2021 Cornmeal, sand, beach detritus, non-toxic resin, plywood Sculpture 43.18 x 35.56 x 96.52 cm / 17 x 14 x 38 in
Native Diver II 2020 Risograph on Archival paper 26.67 x 38.1 cm / 10.5 x 15 in Edition of 3
Hunter MFA
This spring, the Hunter College MFA Program in Studio Art will graduate 26 artists who completed their degree over the challenging months of the COVID-19 pandemic. These talented MFA Thesis Candidates are exhibiting their work in six group exhibitions at 205 Hudson, in addition to this online spotlight hosted by Hauser & Wirth. At time when the public audience for in-person exhibitions has been limited by the pandemic, we are excited to provide this digital platform to the emerging artists from Hunter College’s MFA Program in Studio Art.
Images: All photography by Néstor Daniel Pérez-Molière