Dr. Brian Cross

Biography

B+ (aka Brian Cross) was born and raised in Limerick, Ireland. He attended the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, graduating in 1989 with a degree in painting. In 1990, he moved to Los Angeles to study photography at the California Institute of the Arts. At Cal Arts, he began working on a project entitled 'Salary: Rap Race Resistance Los Angeles', which was subsequently published by Verso Books in 1993. This work garnered nominations for the Rolling Stone Music Book of the Year and made the NME critics' music book of the year list. Cross is a filmmaker and photographer who has achieved great distinction by intersecting the fields of cinema, music, and cultural studies. He creates performative documentaries, videos, and photographs that primarily focus on global music culture, with a particular emphasis on the genre of Hip Hop. His interests lie in the aesthetic and historical interventions of phenomena, exploring how artistic forms reveal and intersect with the social and cultural histories of contemporary urban communities. He draws on traditions and methods from the visual and performing arts, as well as from the social sciences and urban studies.

Research Interests