SIMON BENJAMIN
b. Kingston, Jamaica
Lives and works in New York, NY 

EDUCATION 
2021 Master of Fine Arts, Hunter College, New York, NY
2005 Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2000 Bachelor of Science, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
A Bolt from the Blue, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA 
Native Diver, Swivel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2023
sub-marine: the jeweler of memory, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
sub-marine, Baxter St. Camera Club, New York, NY

2022
Simon Benjamin: PILLARS, LMMC Arts Center at Governors Island, New York, NY

2020
Between Land and Sea: Simon Benjamin and Timothy Yanick Hunter, The 92nd Street. Y, New York, NY

2016
FORUM, NLS Kingston, Kingston, Jamaica

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Would We Recognize Ourselves Unbroken, Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

2024
Myriad, Swivel Gallery, New York, NY 
NADA House, Swivel Gallery, Governors Island, NY
Malta Biennale: Insulaphilia, Malta

2023
4.5 Billion Years, Brief Histories, New York, NY  
14th Kaunas Biennial: Long Distance Friendships, Kaunas, Lithuania
After They Left, Long Story Short, New York, NY

2022
documenta 15, Atis Rezistans | Ghetto Biennale at St. Kunigundis Church, Kassel, Germany
Kingston Biennial: Pressure, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica
10/10, The Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY
The earth leaked red ochre, Miriam Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Soft-Firm’s Drive-Thru, The Plaza at 300 Ashland, Brooklyn, NY

2021
Contretemps, NYU Gallatin WEtLab, Governors Island, New York, NY
No Man is an Island, Project Art Distribution, N.A.D.A., Governors Island, NY
In the Wake, Hunter College Thesis Exhibition, New York, NY

2018 
As Above, So Below: Interpretations of Roundness, Outpost Artist Resources, Ridgewood, NY
To Break the Ocean, AC Institute, New York, NY

2017 
The Ghetto Biennale, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Jamaica Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kinston, Jamaica

2016 
Negotiated Realities, Columbia University, New York, NY

SCREENINGS
2024
The Memory Held within Water , Publishing Expanded: Where is Africa Film Program curated by Reyna Eleison, Center for Art, Research and Alliances, New York, NY

2023
AUTODOOR - Ojos Caribe, Homework Gallery, Miami, FL
Errantry, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Errantry, Timerhi Film Festival, Georgetown, Guyana 

2022
Errantry, Lumbung Film at documenta15, Kassel, Germany
Errantry, Third Horizon Film Festival, Miami, FL

2021
Errantry, Trinidad x Tobago Film Festival, Trinidad & Tobago 

2019
On Childhood, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY
Two Score, Full Moon, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

RESIDENCIES AND WORKSHOPS
2025
Fountainhead,Miami, FL
Monica Foundation, Jersey city, NJ

2024
Jacob Lawrence Legacy, Seattle, WA

2022
Baxter St. Camera Club, New York, NY
Lightwork, Syracuse, NY

2021
Shandaken Projects, New York, NY
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Art Center, New York, NY

2020
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Tivoli, NY

2019
RAW Material Company, Goldberg Workshop with Koyo Kouoh, Dakar, Senegal

GRANTS, AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2023
Artadia Award, New York, NY
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Award, Brooklyn, NY

2022
The Lighthouse Works Fellowship, Fishers Island, NY

2021
Global Connections Fellowship Grant, Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Jamaica Art Society In Focus Fellowship, New York, NY

2018
Ruth Stanton Inaugural Scholarship, Hunter College, New York, NY

2017
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, nominee, Washington, D.C

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025
“Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue”, Edited by Berette S Macaulay, Jacob Lawrence Gallery. June [cat.]

2024
Malene Barnett, “Crafted Kinship: Inside the Creative Practices of Contemporary Black Caribbean Makers”, Artisan Books. October
Shameekia Shantel Johnson,“Artist-Surfer Simon Benjamin Explores How Black People Relate to the Sea”, Art in America. September
Simon Benjamin, “Native Diver”, Forgotten Lands, Volume 06 - Neo-Carib Visions. September
“New Talent”, Art in America. August
Emily Watlington, “Is Malta the New Kassel?”, Art in America. April

2023
Jheanelle Brown, ”Contact Sheet222: Light Work Annual 2023,”Light Work. September[cat. essay]
Gervais Marsh, “Can there be unity in fragmentation?”,Real Art Ways. January [cat. essay]

2022
Ruangrupa, “Documenta Fifteen: Handbook”, Hatje Cantz. November
Louis Bury, “Simon Benjamin: Legacies of the African diaspora”, BOMB Magazine. September
“PRESSURE”, National Gallery of Jamaica. June [cat.]
William Corwin, “The earth leaked red ochre”, The Brooklyn Rail. June
Re’al Christian, “The earth leaked red ochre”, Miriam Gallery. [cat.]

2021
Veronika Molnár, “A Meandering Edge: An Interview with Simon Benjamin”, Assemblage Journal.
Billie Anania, “Hunter MFA Grads Mull the Fluid Nature of Time”, Hyperallergic. June

2018
“To Break the Ocean”, AC Institute. [cat.]

2017
“2017 Jamaica Biennial”,National Gallery of Jamaica. [cat.]

TALKS AND PANELS
2025
Page to Practice: Artists in Conversation, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2024
Visiting Artist Lecture: Simon Benjamin, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Artist talk with Gervais Marsh, Saturday Soup, Swivel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2023 
Visiting Artist Talk, University of Virginia, Department of Art, Charlottesville, VA 
Artist talk with TK Smith, Saturday Soup, Baxter St. Camera Club, New York, NY

2022
Artist Talk: Simon Benjamin, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Governors Island, New York, NY


2021 
Art of and Around “The Underground Railroad”, Hunter College, Dept. of Art and Art History, New York, NY
Project EATS with Linda Goode Bryant: studio visit with Koyo Kouoh and Simon Benjamin, New York, NY

2020
Khalik Allah and Simon Benjamin in Conversation, The Hunter Moving Image Alliance, New York, NY Online Artist Talk, Syracuse University, Dept. of Transmedia, New York, NY
Online Artist Talk, University of Virginia, Depart. of Art, Charlottesville, VA

2019
Beautiful Words are Subversive, Panel, curated by Black Chalk &Co., Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY 

2016 
Artist Talk with Linyee Yuan, NLS Kingston, Kingston, Jamaica

2011 
Investing in Imagination, TEDx Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica 

CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2021 
A Sense of Place, a Two-day online Symposium organized by Hunter College Graduate students and curator Koyo Kouoh, New York, NY

2020 
A Sense of Place, Three-day Symposium” organized by Hunter College Graduate students and Curator Koyo Kouoh, March 12-14th, New York, NY (canceled due to COVID-19)

June 26, 2019 - September 14, 2019
“W.O.T.Y. 3.2 – Scales”, Hunter East Harlem Gallery, New York, NY 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL