Contact
benjamin.mcdonnell@network.rca.ac.uk
About
I graduated with a masters degree in photography from the Royal College of Art In 2017, my undergraduate degree was in jazz composition and performance from Leeds College of Music.
I currently live and work in both Manchester and south east London, UK.
My work uses photography, sound and sculpture to raise questions around stability, support and structure. I draw inspiration from sound, music and the built environment.
I was recently selected for the Chisenhale Studio Residency in 2019 and by Outset Contemporary Art Fund for a residency in Vancouver, this was supported by the British Council and Vancouver Biennale. In 2018 I completed a studio residency and exhibition with PADA in Lisbon, Portugal, and was commissioned to make new work for Concealer, part of Peckham 24 photography festival. My work has been shown internationally and is held in public and private collections.
I am lecturer on the photography BA(hons) programme at Manchester School of Art.
benjamin.mcdonnell@network.rca.ac.uk
About
I graduated with a masters degree in photography from the Royal College of Art In 2017, my undergraduate degree was in jazz composition and performance from Leeds College of Music.
I currently live and work in both Manchester and south east London, UK.
My work uses photography, sound and sculpture to raise questions around stability, support and structure. I draw inspiration from sound, music and the built environment.
I was recently selected for the Chisenhale Studio Residency in 2019 and by Outset Contemporary Art Fund for a residency in Vancouver, this was supported by the British Council and Vancouver Biennale. In 2018 I completed a studio residency and exhibition with PADA in Lisbon, Portugal, and was commissioned to make new work for Concealer, part of Peckham 24 photography festival. My work has been shown internationally and is held in public and private collections.
I am lecturer on the photography BA(hons) programme at Manchester School of Art.
CV
Education
2017 Royal College of Art. MA Photography 2004 Leeds College of Music. BA(hons) Jazz Studies
Selected Exhibitions
2019
Recreational Grounds, London
Bankley Open, Manchester
Chisenhale Studios, London
Black Box, UCA Farnham Capitulo I, Auditório Municipal Augusto Cabrita, Lisbon
2018 Fotografia e Materialidade, PADA, Lisbon Concealer, Peckham24, London. Granular, University of Greenwhich, London. Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Baker Street, London.
2017
RCA Degree Show, London
Look/17, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
2016
What Happens To Us, Wimbledon Space UAL, London.
Salon/16, work selected from members of Photofusion, London. Photo Publishers Market, Brighton Photo Fringe. Line | Body | Light, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London. Pingyao International Photography Festival, China.
Impossible Chords.Studio 187, London. Telling Tales. Liverpool Biennial Fringe, in association with Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
Offprint, Tate Modern, London.
RCA Secret Postcard, Gulbenkian Galleries, London.
The Campaign, in association with Subject Matter and Sedition. Dyson Gallery, London.
2015>
Paris Photo, At First Sight, Collaboration with photographer Natasha Caruana and Fisheye Magazine, produced by BMW.
Floating Cinema/CFCCA. Music commissioned in response to a screening of Haze & Fog, a film by Cao Fei.
Aleph Trio. Solo album released on Pocket Tiger Records.
Ti Pi Tin Artists Bookshop. Mónica Rivas Velásquez. Part of Art Licks Weekend 2014. Toward The Border. Roundhouse, London.
Awards
2020 Fellowship of HEA
2019 Arts Council England DYCP Fund
2019 Fusion Fund Recipient
2018 Outset Vancouver Residency Supported by the British Council Canada
2017 Outset Studio Residency
2017 Source Magazine, Curators Choice.
2016 Shortlisted for The Annex Collection Award.
2016 Resonances acquired into the collection of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
Academic
Current - Lecturer in Photography at Manchester Metropolitan University
2019 - Artists Talk University of the Arts Bournemouth
2019 - Visiting Lecturer Camberwell College of Art
2018 - Artists Talk UCA Farnham
2018 - Visiting Lecturer Westminster University
2017 - 2018 Visiting Lecturer Salford University
2017 - Paper The Listening Camera delivered at Sound/Image Colloquium, University of Greenwich.
2017 - Visiting Lecturer Huddersfield University
2016 - Artists Talk and running of crit groups at Camberwell College of Arts, UAL.
2016 - Artists talk and lecture on working collaboratively at Salford University.
Education
2017 Royal College of Art. MA Photography 2004 Leeds College of Music. BA(hons) Jazz Studies
Selected Exhibitions
2019
Recreational Grounds, London
Bankley Open, Manchester
Chisenhale Studios, London
Black Box, UCA Farnham Capitulo I, Auditório Municipal Augusto Cabrita, Lisbon
2018 Fotografia e Materialidade, PADA, Lisbon Concealer, Peckham24, London. Granular, University of Greenwhich, London. Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Baker Street, London.
2017
RCA Degree Show, London
Look/17, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
2016
What Happens To Us, Wimbledon Space UAL, London.
Salon/16, work selected from members of Photofusion, London. Photo Publishers Market, Brighton Photo Fringe. Line | Body | Light, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London. Pingyao International Photography Festival, China.
Impossible Chords.Studio 187, London. Telling Tales. Liverpool Biennial Fringe, in association with Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
Offprint, Tate Modern, London.
RCA Secret Postcard, Gulbenkian Galleries, London.
The Campaign, in association with Subject Matter and Sedition. Dyson Gallery, London.
2015>
Paris Photo, At First Sight, Collaboration with photographer Natasha Caruana and Fisheye Magazine, produced by BMW.
Floating Cinema/CFCCA. Music commissioned in response to a screening of Haze & Fog, a film by Cao Fei.
Aleph Trio. Solo album released on Pocket Tiger Records.
Ti Pi Tin Artists Bookshop. Mónica Rivas Velásquez. Part of Art Licks Weekend 2014. Toward The Border. Roundhouse, London.
Awards
2020 Fellowship of HEA
2019 Arts Council England DYCP Fund
2019 Fusion Fund Recipient
2018 Outset Vancouver Residency Supported by the British Council Canada
2017 Outset Studio Residency
2017 Source Magazine, Curators Choice.
2016 Shortlisted for The Annex Collection Award.
2016 Resonances acquired into the collection of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.
Academic
Current - Lecturer in Photography at Manchester Metropolitan University
2019 - Artists Talk University of the Arts Bournemouth
2019 - Visiting Lecturer Camberwell College of Art
2018 - Artists Talk UCA Farnham
2018 - Visiting Lecturer Westminster University
2017 - 2018 Visiting Lecturer Salford University
2017 - Paper The Listening Camera delivered at Sound/Image Colloquium, University of Greenwich.
2017 - Visiting Lecturer Huddersfield University
2016 - Artists Talk and running of crit groups at Camberwell College of Arts, UAL.
2016 - Artists talk and lecture on working collaboratively at Salford University.