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Neil Emile Elias Kenlock (born 1950) is a Jamaican-born photographer and media professional who has lived in London since the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, Kenlock was the official photographer of the British Black Panthers, and he has been described as being "at the forefront of documenting the black experience in the UK". "15 great black Britons who made history", BBC, iWonder, 10 November 2016. Kenlock was the co-founder of Choice FM, the first successful radio station granted a licence to cater for the black community in Britain.Neil Kenlock, "After the demise of Choice FM, is it back to pirate radio for black Britons?", The Guardian, 14 November 2013.
After working for photographic studios, in 1973 he became a staff photographer for West Indian World, one of the first national black British newspapers. In his first two decades as a professional photographer he specialised in fashion, beauty, celebrities and the cultural lifestyles of Black Britons. "The Photographer", Kenlock Photography. Also noted for his street photography, during the late 1960s and the 1970s Kenlock became involved with the British Black Panther movement, becoming the group's official photographer and documenting anti-racist protests and demonstrations in the UK.Hazelann Williams, "Reliving The British Black Panther Movement", The Voice, 9 January 2012.
In 1979, Kenlock co-founded the pioneering Black lifestyle magazine Root ("A British Ebony, only more connected to how people live in Britain"),Lionel Morrison, A Century of Black Journalism in Britain: A Kaleidoscopic View of Race and the Media (1893-2003), Truebay, 2007, p. 37. published until 1987, and he subsequently became co-founder of Choice FM, which was the UK's first radio station broadcasting to the black community.
Key figures and leaders in the black community feature in his photographic archive, including Olive Morris, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Courtney Laws, Audley Baines, Darcus Howe and Lionel Morrison. 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. "Celebrities & Icons", Kenlock Photography.
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.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.Richard Moss, "Neil Kenlock's photos of black community leaders head home to Brixton", Museum Crush, 19 July 2018.Emily Hurley, "Expectations: Neil Kenlock at the Black Cultural Archives, Brixton", The Jackal, 10 August 2018. "Expectations Exhibition –The Neil Kenlock Archive, 7 AUGUST – 28 SEPTEMBER 2018", Black Cultural Archives. 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."Joel Campbell, "Documenting Our Hidden Heritage At New Exhibition", The Voice, 5 August 2018.
Kenlock was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to media.
In February 2022, Kenlock was named in CasildART's list of the top six Black British photographers, alongside Charlie Phillips, James Barnor, Armet Francis, Pogus Caesar and Vanley Burke.
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