(Born 1994 Harare, Zimbabwe)
(Lives in Edinburgh, Scotland)
I am an emerging, award-winning experimental poet and interdisciplinary artist from Edinburgh. I have an expanded understanding of artistic disciplines and an awareness of alternative hybrid possibilities. In my avant-garde poetry-plays, which is the prevailing manifestation of my practice, I blend (and blur the boundaries of) painting, poetry, theatre, spoken word, performance art, and stand-up comedy. Wry humour; parody; absurdity; obscenity; self-absorbed performances; metatheatrical devices - these are trademarks of my writing and performance work. My sculptural mixed-media paintings are made from discarded materials I have scavenged and double up as theatrical scenery in my hybrid productions. Collage is an essential technique in both my painting and writing practices. I am dedicated to the subversion and advancement of disciplines in the arts.
I am also a founding member of artist collective-cum-experimental troupe Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn with Liverpool artist and poet Daniel O’Dempsey. Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn consists of O’Dempsey and I as abiding contributors and includes anyone that we collaborate with when operating as the collective. It is a vehicle for experimentation, collaboration and developing ideas within the realms of visual art, performance, spoken word, poetry, music, and theatre.
Contact
mckenzie_james@hotmail.co.uk
Education
2021-2022: MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths University (studies interrupted)
2014-2017: Art and Philosophy BA at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee (graduated with honours first class)
2012-2013: General Foundation at Leith School of Art, Edinburgh
Awards
2021: Department of Art Bursary, Goldsmiths University
2021: Scottish International Educational Trust grant
2019: £5000 awarded from RSA Residencies for Scotland scheme to undertake a residency at the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney to focus on a collaborative project with Daniel O'Dempsey
2018: RSA New Contemporaries Carnegie Scholarship for painting
2017: RSA New Contemporaries 2018 Selected Artist
2017: James Guthrie Orchar Memorial Art Prize, Dundee University
2012: Robert Patterson Pencil Portrait Award, George Watson’s College
Selected Exhibitions, Performances and Workshops
2023: Jimmy Mack Follies Variation, Embassy Gallery’s Members Show, Edinburgh
2023: Jimmy Mack Follies Variation, GENERATORprojects’ Members Show, Dundee
2022: Decoy House, open house DIY exhibition with Damien Thirst, Edinburgh
2022: Jimmy Mack Follies, avant-garde poetry-play, seven performances, part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Natural Food Kafe, Edinburgh
2022: Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn Act 4, collaborative performance with Daniel O'Dempsey, event accompanies work in Scotland Small? exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2022: (With Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn) Premiere screening of Glen Thomson's documentary film Orcadia: A Fenris and Ragnar Story and Q&A, event accompanies work in Scotland Small? exhibition, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre at The Scottish National Gallery/Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2022: (With Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn) Scotland Small?, new bodies of work from eight artists supported by the RSA Residencies for Scotland programme, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2022: I'll Have Another, live performance at The Grass is Always Greener on the Sa-Lawn opening, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2021: Tides that Bind, Tides that Break, poetry reading at private view, Aberdour
2021: Farewell My Darlings, theatrical poetry reading with visual art backdrop (solo show), St. Margaret's House, Edinburgh
2021: Sum Poems, 50 poetry tape-cassettes, Volk Gallery, Dundee
2021: The Soapworks Residencies, two day mini-residency and live performance with Hidden Door, Edinburgh
2021: Something’s Brewing…, virtual experimental poetry workshop for MFA students of the Royal College of Art, London
2021: Life After Art School, virtual artist talk for students of Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen
2020: Nobility Pursuit, solo show at the G16 Exhibition Space, St. Margaret's House, Edinburgh
2020: Live spoken word performance at Lewis Bissett and Jamie Watt's exhibition Beta Blockers exhibition opening party, Forest Café, Edinburgh
2020: Academy Late, live spoken word performance at the launch event for the new RSA Salon membership scheme, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2019-20: Alba down to Nippon, multi-media artwork including theatrical poetry reading, OPEN SSA+VAS, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2019: Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn Act 3, collaborative exhibition with Daniel O'Dempsey, WASPS Studios, Stromness, Orkney
2019: Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn Act 2, collaborative performance with Daniel O'Dempsey and Clair Westrop, Stromness Academy, Orkney
2019: Fenris Wolf and Ragnar Thorfinn Act 1, collaborative performance with Daniel O'Dempsey and Eric Linklater, Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
2019: Experimental Poetry Workshop, part of Piergroup, The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
2019: Red Lite Radio, podcast with Daniel O'Dempsey, Orkney
2019: PEPSI 2, group show curated by McKenzie, St. Margaret's House, Edinburgh
2019: Theatrical spoken word performance at Michael Kay Terrence's The Marks to Prove It private view, Summerhall, Edinburgh
2019: JET BABY, theatrical poetry reading, part of Annuale Festival 2019, Heart of Midlothian, Royal Mile, Edinburgh
2019: PEPSI GENESIS, group show curated by McKenzie, Dock Street Studios, Dundee
2019: The Assassination of Dr. Queso Empanada, live theatre at SA-LON SUCKERS,Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
2019: Round One, poetry reading at private view, The Bridewell Studios, Liverpool
2018-19: CONCORD NUDIST, theatrical storytelling at the SSA 121st Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2018: ECSTASY AB INITIO, unauthorized poetry reading, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
2018: Live Music// Jam Session// Poetry ETC, The George Orwell, Dundee
2018: RSA New Contemporaries, exhibition and live spoken word performance, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2017: RSA Open Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy
2017: Best of Degree Show, Six Foot Gallery, Glasgow
2017: Annual Art, Design & Architecture Degree Show, Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee
2017: Trans-Fixed Live Performance Event, generatorPROJECTS, Dundee
2016: ATTRIBUTES, Room 601, Duncan of Jordanstone
2016: Multi Exhibition, Matthew Entrance Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone
2016: Art & Philosophy’s First Social Event 16/17, Matthew Entrance Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone
2015: Culloden Viaduct Exhibition, Culloden Battlefield Centre, Inverness
Selected Publications
2023: Wrong Directions Issue 1, Typewronger Books, Edinburgh
2022: Bollock Naked by Dr. Jock Howie, self-published zine, Edinburgh
2021: Grace and Consistency, riso-printed pamphlet with Yalla Riso, published in Dundee and distributed in Edinburgh
2021: Littoral Magazine Issue 3: Spring Equinox, online magazine
2020: All You Can Eat, collaborative zine curated and edited by Alex Weir
2019: Alba down to Nippon, self-published zine, Edinburgh
2019: Polemical Zine Issue 11: Social, online zine, Canada
2019: New River Press Yearbook 2018-19, New River Press, Fitrovia, London
2018: The Celestial Midnight Bar, self-published, Edinburgh
2018: Untitled Poetry Collection, self-published, Dundee
2017: Prose Poems, self-published, Dundee