Maroon Mandala II

Charles Campbell (b. 1970)

Jamaican-born Canadian multidisciplinary artist Charles Campbell is among a new generation of artists. He is known for works that interrogate the Caribbean’s colonial past and question the region’s dominant social narratives.

Campbell moved to Canada with his family in 1975. Educated in the UK and Canada, he has worked in various artistic media including painting, installation, performance, sound and video. He is also a curator and writer. While pointing to the complex relationships in colonial and “post” colonial societies, his work transcends the weight of history to suggest the possibility of personal and social transformation, beyond social discord and conflict.

The artist’s work has been exhibited throughout North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Campbell has represented both Canada and Jamaica at major artistic events, including Jamaica’s National Biennial. His work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Alice Yard, the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Puerto Rico, the Houston Museum of African American Culture, the Art Gallery of Mississauga and at Biennials in Havana, Santo Domingo and Cuenca.

He was for a time Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Jamaica, where he curated Anything With Nothing: Art From the Streets of Urban Jamaica in 2014. His writing on art can be found in Frieze and ARC Magazine, a Caribbean arts journal.