Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1971 London, England

Other name/s: Jennie B

Biography

Photographer Jennie Baptiste was born in northwest London in 1971 to St. Lucian parents who had immigrated to England in the 1960s. She grew up learning about racism and reading about Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr., receiving a camera from her mother as a present when she was 10 years old. Her interest in photography grew whilst at school, when she took a GCSE photography course. She began collecting pictures from photographers who created iconic images to form scrapbooks. She perfected her eye by looking at how photographers ‘put together images that were pleasing to the eye, I spent a lot of time doing that through scrapbooks and also because I had to, when I was on my degree course I couldn’t afford to buy 20 rolls […]. I said to myself I need to train my eyes so I can get what I want in two or three rolls of film […] and I guess that kind of discipline helps because I know no matter what I have to get something’ (Maffrett 2022).

Baptiste grew up in a family where they all played different instruments and genres, which helped shape her music culture; she would look at album covers belonging to her older sister, paying more attention to the credits on the record sleeves and to how they were produced as she got older. She visited HMV record shops and decided that, instead of being the usual fan who would be photographed with the artist, she would take a picture of the artist using her own compact camera. She recalled that ‘Because you have limited time to take a photograph and then they move you along, I didn’t recognise at the time but looking back it was my first photographer point of action’ (Maffrett 2022). When Baptiste was 15 her career officer told her she would never become a photographer. She struggled with lecturers not understanding her point of view and later recalled that one of the responses she received about her work on ragga was: ‘This doesn’t mean anything – it’s throwaway culture’; Baptiste wondered, ‘How can you assess my work, if you’re not even willing to understand the culture I’m a part of?’ (Guardian 2020).

Baptiste graduated from the London College of Communication Photography BA course in 1994, during which time she experimented with different types of printing techniques, including lith printing; she also toned her own photographs, producing both colour and black and white images. This experience helped her to take ‘control over everything including the concept and aesthetic look of the final product. It allows you to explore and create in your own way with no commercial restrictions’ (UAL interview). Her first work was published Touch Magazine in 1994. Baptiste’s photographic practice is inspired by her Black British and Caribbean roots, and delves into fashion and style as expressions of Black British identity, often with a focus on music and youth culture. In Ragga Crouching (1993, V&A collection) Baptiste captured a young Black woman dancing in a crouched position, wearing purple velvet clothes and various pieces of jewellery. With her photographs, she aims to enlighten and educate viewers about the richness and significance of Black culture, fashion, and legacy: ‘I see myself as a messenger within the photographic world with the ability to give the audience a deeper understanding of the black narrative. Being a part of that I am documenting from within the culture and my images relay that affinity’ (Africanah interview). The merging of music and fashion is exemplified by her portrait of Brixton Dancehall Queen Pinky (2001, V&A collection). Pinky was shown with bright pink hair, reclining on a pale pink leather armchair in a room with pink walls and a pink furry rug. She employed elaborate styling to reflect her self-image, using pink embellishments, apparel, and interior decoration. Her lavish appearance was associated with trends in dancehall music culture, a genre which emerged in Jamaica in the late 1970s and featured slower rhythms than reggae, with a particular emphasis on the dance hall as a site for performance, especially dance. Dancehall was characterised by its suggestive dance styles, racy lyrics, and women's revealing attire. Despite its sexual overtones, the clothing and dance styles embraced by dancehall participants could also be viewed as empowering modes of self-expression.

Baptiste's love for music eventually led her to photograph prominent hip-hop and rap artists such as P. Diddy, Jay Z, Mary J. Blige and Roots Manuva. Her photographs have been featured in many exhibitions, including several V&A surveys, including Black British Style (2004), Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience (2015), Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear (2017), and Fashion & Masculinities: The Art of Menswear (2022). Her work is represented in UK public collections including the V&A and National Portrait Gallery, London.

Related books

Rianna Jade Parker, A Brief History of Black British Art (London: Tate Publishing, 2021)
David A. Bailey, Sonia Boyce, and Ian Baucom, eds., Shades of Black: Assembling Black Arts in 1980s Britain (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005)

Public collections

Related organisations

London College of Communication (student)

Selected exhibitions

Fashion & Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, Victoria and Albert Museum (2022)
Someone’s Daughter, Photo London (2021)
The Self Portrait, Home, London (2020)
Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear, Victoria and Albert Museum (2017)
Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, Victoria and Albert Museum (2015)
Music & Me, Carhartt Store, London (2009)
Journey to Accompong, The Museum in Docklands, London (2008)
Exhibiting Differences, The Hunterian Museum: Royal College of Surgeons, London (2007)
Popstars - Photographs from The National Portrait Gallery, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens (2007)
Maroon, The Photographer’s Gallery, London (2007)
The Brixton Graffix Show, 198 Gallery, London (2005)
Black British Style, Victoria and Albert Museum (2004)
Hiphop Immortals, Proud Galleries, London (2004)
The Brixton Graffix Show, The Fridge Gallery, London (2003, 2002)
Revolutions @ 33 1/3, The Levi’s Store, London (1999)
Visions of Darkness: A Photographic Representation of Urban Youth Culture, with Jennie Baptiste and Eddie Otchere, 198 Gallery, London (1994)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Jennie Baptiste]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Jennie Baptiste photographer