Review: Find Your Eyes at Factory International is ‘a journey of moving forward and discovering love’

Initially premiered at the 2023 edition of Manchester International Festival, and after touring the world, Benji Reid finally comes back to Manchester with a unique live photography performance.

Originally a hip-hop dancer and theatre-maker, in recent years Reid has found the perfect recipe to combine all his talents together and even coined a new word for it: he calls himself a “choreo-photolist”, someone who is a photographer, a choreographer, and creates theatrical pieces.

With his talent, he has travelled the world, with more recent performances at International Theatre Amsterdam, Venice Dance Biennale, and Dublin Theatre Festival.

Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes at Factory International

It is quite the challenge to describe what Find Your Eyes is, especially because Reid himself, at the end of the performance, politely asks not to share too much. What happens in the next hour and a half is a journey no one is prepared for. 

In this unique performance, Reid is at the centre of a dynamic studio, featuring two screens, props, lights, sounds, and dance pieces.

Three dancers – Salomé Pressac, Slate Hemedi and Yvonne Smink – pose for the camera.

Salomé Pressac, Slate Hemedi and Yvonne Smink

As Reid takes pictures of them from different angles, the shots are brought to life on the screens. 

The three performers are mesmerising and, without them even speaking a word, we soon get to know them.

We explore Hemedi’s body, his scars, pores, and perfect imperfection, and then we see him gliding through the air propelled by fans or dressed as a god.

Smink delights us with incredible pole feats, becoming a human kite of elegance.

Pressac and her raw choreographies embody loss, conflict and grief, with every movement of her body being louder than any spoken word.

Examining the beautiful landscapes of the human body, in black and white

The first chapter of the first act, Nebula, is an exploration of the beautiful and unique landscapes of the human body, in black and white.

Portrait, the following chapter, is an intense story of friendship, love, and abuse, narrated by Reid and his camera, extracting the most perfect still moments from the violence unfolding in front of him.

It is in the second act that we start to learn more about Reid’s own life. He calls his work “conflict photography”: it is just like war photography, but instead of battlefields, he wants to immortalise the cruel ravages of everyday day, and especially the struggle of black people in the UK.

Exploring conflict photography

As the story unfolds and choreography, dance and photography all blend together, directed by Reid’s expert eye, the artist addresses themes like addiction, racism, depression, abortion, and death.

Most importantly, it is not just his beautiful pictures that we see on those screens: Reid is exposing his vulnerabilities, his faults and mistakes, everything that has led him to become the person he is now, and all the challenges he has had to overcome.

What we witness is an intimate conversation between the artist and his performers, different talents fusing to create a blend of emotions.

By the end of the third and last act, one cannot help but feel like the audience itself is the main prop, the point d’appui the artist needed to share this story.

This becomes especially clear during the epilogue, when Reid finally sits down and relaxes, looks back at all the pictures taken over the past hour and a half, and even improvises a little dance.

Just like the gods that Reid has invoked, imagined, and shot in his third act, we see him admiring his creations with pride, but also with sadness when he revisits the shots he has taken when revisiting his mother’s death.

Photographing the human experience

When talking about his work, Reid explains that his aim is not to photograph what someone looks like, but what they have been through.

And it seems that by taking pictures of his three performers, Reid is also looking into his soul, and what he has gone through.

In his own words, this work is ‘a celebration of evolution, a journey of moving forward, finding breath, discovering love, and embracing life’s beautiful imperfections’.

And what a joy for the eye it is to celebrate joy, life and imperfection, with Reid and his performers.

Tickets for Find your Eyes at Factory International

Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes is on at Factory International from 28th May to 31st of May.

You can get tickets by clicking here