TJ Benson
TJ Benson
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- TJ Benson
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Preferred pronouns:No pronoun preference
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Birth year:1991
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Primarily based in or works from:
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Currently working on:
Currently, I use my visual art practice to map the sensory journeys that the body undertakes and then translate my observations into experimental texts.
Quick Facts:
TJ Benson
is a Nigerian writer and visual artist whose work explores the body in
the context of memory, Non-Abrahamic spirituality, migration, utopia and
the unconscious self. His work has been exhibited and published in
several journals and his Saraba Manuscript Prize shortlisted
Africanfuturist collection of short stories ‘We Won’t Fade into
Darkness’ was published by Parresia in 2018.
His debut novel ‘The Madhouse’ was
published in 2021 by Masobe Books and Penguin Random House SA and his
second novel ‘People Live Here’ was published in June 2022. He has
facilitated writing workshops, more recently teaching a class on magical
realism and surrealism within the context of African literature for Lolwe and
an Inkubator workshop for Short Story Day Africa. He has attended
residencies in Ebedi Nigeria, Moniack Mhor Scotland, Art Omi New York
and LOATAD Ghana where he was an African Union writer-in-residence. He
is a University of Iowa International Writing Program Spring Fellow, a
recipient of the 2022 Prince Claus Seed Fund and the Sudkulturfond
Switzerland.
He currently lives in an apartment full of plants and is in the danger
of becoming a cat person.
Three relevant works from the last 5 years of artistic practice:
- Distant Worlds, featuring polyandry in an alternate universe of Africa that wasn't colonised. Postmodern Culture, Volume 32, Number 3, May 2022 (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/874124/summary)
- The Centenary Saint, collaboration with choreographer and performer Jaruam Xavier, MFA Dance University of Iowa, 2022 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6bI9jB8sEI)
- Za! Magazine. Founding of this magazine featuring visual art and experimental prose from Northern Nigeria.
