Neil Kenlock

Neil Kenlock (born 1950) is a Jamaican-born photographer and media professional who has lived in London, England, since the 1960s, and is acknowledged as being "at the forefront of documenting the black experience in the UK".[1] He was co-founder of Choice FM, the first successful radio station granted a licence to cater for the black community in Britain.[2]

Background and career

Neil Kenlock was born in 1950 Port Antonio, Jamaica, where he was raised by his grandmother until 1963, when he migrated to London to join his parents who had settled in Brixton.[3] As a youth in south London he captured in photographs the lives of the local community as well as becoming known for portraits taken on family occasions, his work as a whole coming to represent an exploration of many aspects of black British culture and history.[4]

After working for photographic studios, in 1973 he became a staff photographer for West Indian World, one of the first national black British newspapers.[3] In his first two decades as a professional photographer he specialised in fashion, beauty, celebrities and the cultural lifestyles of Black Britons.[5] During the late 1960s and the 1970s he became involved with the British Black Panther movement, becoming the group's official photographer and documenting anti-racist protests and demonstrations in the UK.[6]

In 1979 Kenlock co-founded the pioneering Black lifestyle magazine Root ("A British Ebony, only more connected to how people live in Britain"),[7] published until 1987, and subsequently became co-founder of Choice FM, which was the UK's first radio station broadcasting to the black community.[5]

Key figures and leaders in the black community feature in his photographic archive, including Olive Morris, Althea Le Cointe, Courtney Laws, Audley Baines, Darcus Howe and Lionel Morrison.[4] Among international superstars whom Kenlock has photographed over the years are Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Eartha Kitt, Donald Quarrie, Eddy Grant, James Baldwin and Muhammad Ali, icons of reggae music such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff. Desmond Dekker and John Holt, and political personalities including Diane Abbott, Michael Manley and Indira Gandhi.[8]

In August 2018, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush bringing one of the first large groups of post-war West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom, the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) showed 70 of Kenlock's photographs in the exhibition Expectations: The untold story of Black community leaders, curated by his daughter Emelia Kenlock, featuring such notable African and Caribbean subjects as Olive Morris, Darcus Howe, Arthur Wint, Lord David Pitt, Courtney Law and Steve Barnard.[9][10][11][12] Funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project "aims to give access to examples of black leadership, as well as archive material outside of the normal educational environment," as Kenlock stated in an interview: "Over 50 years since the concept of ‘black excellence’ first manifested and 70 years on from the Windrush, I truly hope the exhibition will add to the national cultural narrative and resonate with new audiences."[13]

Selected exhibitions
  • 2018: Expectations, Black Cultural Archives, Windrush Square, 7 August–28 September[14][15]
  • 2017: Stan Firm Inna Inglan: Black Diaspora in London, 1960-1970, Tate Britain, 7 April–19 November 2017[16]
  • 2015: Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, V&A Museum[17]
  • 2013: The Amazing Lost Legacy of the British Black Panthers, Photofusion Gallery, 17a Electric Lane, Brixton, 16–26 October.[18]
  • 2005: Roots to Reckoning: the photography of Armet Francis, Neil Kenlock and Charlie Phillips, Museum of London[19]

References
  1. "15 great black Britons who made history", BBC, iWonder.
  2. Neil Kenlock, "After the demise of Choice FM, is it back to pirate radio for black Britons?", The Guardian, 14 November 2013.
  3. "Neil Kenlock", at V&A.
  4. "People & Communities", Kenlock Photography.
  5. "About", Kenlock Photography.
  6. Hazelann Williams, "Reliving The British Black Panther Movement", The Voice, 9 January 2012.
  7. Lionel Morrison, A Century of Black Journalism in Britain: A Kaleidoscopic View of Race and the Media (1893-2003), Truebay, 2007, p. 37.
  8. "Celebrities & Icons", Kenlock Photography.
  9. Myvanwy Evans, "Expectations: The Untold Story of Black British Community Leaders in the 60s and 70s | 8 Aug 2018 – 28 Sep 2018", ArtRabbit, 4 July 2018.
  10. Richard Moss, "Neil Kenlock’s photos of black community leaders head home to Brixton", Museum Crush, 19 July 2018.
  11. Emily Hurley, "Expectations: Neil Kenlock at the Black Cultural Archives, Brixton", The Jackal, 10 August 2018.
  12. "Expectations Exhibition –The Neil Kenlock Archive, 7 AUGUST – 28 SEPTEMBER 2018", Black Cultural Archives.
  13. Joel Campbell, "Documenting Our Hidden Heritage At New Exhibition", The Voice, 5 August 2018.
  14. "The Expectations Exhibition 2018 Trailer". YouTube video.
  15. Leslie Manasseh, "Expectations: The untold story of Black community leaders", Brixton Blog, 4 August 2018.
  16. Hughes, Sarah (9 April 2017). "The story of the British Black Panthers through race, politics, love and power". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. Ryder, Matthew (8 February 2015). "The black experience: portraits of a community". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  18. Bruno Bayley, "The Amazing Lost Legacy of the British Black Panthers", Vice, 8 October 2013.
  19. Golbach, Jilke (16 October 2019). "Black British photography: Neil Kenlock and Armet Francis". Museum of London. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
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