Biography

Raised in the deep South, Raina’s experience with the living past through storytelling and reenactment is extensive. Whether it is through painting, installation, video, performance, creative writing, sound, or community projects, her work investigates narrative through a poet’s lens. Raina Benoit received her BA from Louisiana State University in Liberal Arts and minored in Creative Writing (1999).  After living and working in New York City she continued her studies in France at the Atelier des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (2001) where she studied in painting, drawing, and French. She completed her MFA (2006) at the University of Arizona where she was the founding member and co director of Plugged Art Collective, a grass roots digital arts organization responsible for creating and hosting a biannual international women’s video festival Her Shorts and Tucson’s first performance festival PerformIT.    Other projects include writing for the New Orleans art journal The Pelican Bomb “Survival Guide” series), working with the experimental performance troupe Bricolage Bizarre, and conjuring up ideas for future community collaborative projects such as the Florida based project entitled Tourist: a Visit Through Local Voices. Selected exhibitions and performances include Mass Moca (North Adams, MA), Fringe 1134 Gallery (New York, NY), Ad Hoc Gallery (Brooklyn, NY),  Platform Gallery (Tucson, AZ), Deland Museum of Art (Deland, FL), 911 Media Art Center (Seattle, Washington),  C. Emerson Art Gallery (St.Petersburg, Fl), The Candle Factory (New Orleans, La),  and various other international and national entities.