Take a deep breath and learn more about Charles Campbell and his new art show in Surrey.
With large-scale metal and mixed-media sculptures, along with multichannel audio installations, the Victoria-based artist explores human breath in “An Ocean to Livity,” the gallery’s feature exhibit this spring.
Campbell’s work reacts to the 2020 death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
The tree-like metal sculpture “Maroonscape 3: Finding Accompong” dominates the main gallery at Bear Creek Park.
“It was conceived as a monument to black breath, which goes back to the George Floyd murder and what he said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ which took on its own life and pointed to the vulnerability of breath,” Campbell explained Friday (April 14), a day before the exhibit opened.
“In a way I wanted to create something about the power of breath rather than it being under threat or duress.”
The five-metre-tall “tree” resembles a kindah tree in Jamaica, in an area called the Maroons, where escaped slaves fought the British and eventually won their autonomy in 1740, Campbell explained. “In a way it was the first Black state in the New World,” he said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO
VIDEO: Echoes of George Floyd death in Charles Campbell’s new ‘Ocean to Livity’ show, opening Saturday at Surrey Art Gallery.
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) April 14, 2023
Campbell talks about his work here.
STORY: https://t.co/EgbWyl4iGr pic.twitter.com/pqztK7dJp2
Upside-down, the sculpture looks like the bronchial structure of a human lung, as well as the forked shapes of slave yokes, or wooden sticks used to tie captives together in a line.
Fourteen coloured light boxes are positioned on the gallery walls.
“They’re called Breath Portraits I’ve made using spectrograms, visual representations of sound,” noted Campbell, a multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator. “It’s almost a snapshot of breath, and I’ve zoomed into these moments. It turns breath into light to evoke a spirit.”
The audio in the room sounds like rainforest noises.
“The sounds were recorded close to Victoria, just to set a mood. You’re also listening to breath but it’s broken up in binary code, as an alphabet, and it actually spells a phrase: The breath that will be taken.”
The breath-y soundtrack involved recording members of Black communities in Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria, for a project Campbell started two years ago.
• RELATED: Breath of Black seniors recorded for ‘Black Breath Spectacle’ at Surrey Art Gallery.
In an adjoining room, more breath recordings are heard in “Black Breath Archive,” from six black, globe-shaped speakers suspended from the ceiling. The centrepiece is a metal Breath Cycle, which forms a Möbius strip.
“So if you follow one edge all the way around, it will come back to the same point, a three-dimensional Möbius form,” Campbell explained. “It’s like life, where things go around and do change but eventually they come back in different forms, that’s the idea of using the Möbius form.”
Campbell has what he calls a “tiny” studio in Victoria.
“With the tree out there, I built that in pieces and then I didn’t see it built until it was at Vancouver Art Gallery, where it was first shown during the ‘Vancouver Special’ exhibit,” he elaborated.
“It was shown in Montreal before coming here, so this is the third time it’s been exhibited, here in Surrey.”
Campbell will talk about his work Saturday (April 15, 6:30 p.m. start) during an “Artist in Conversation” talk, and will lead an exhibit tour on Saturday, May 13 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Admission is free.
This spring, Surrey Art Gallery also shows “Masi Medicine: Joyful Nourishment,” a fusion of dance, poetry and music featuring featuring artists-in-residence Franz Seachel, Anjalica Solomon and Alyssa Amarshi of Enable: Art Society. Related events include a 5X Art Party at the gallery Sunday, June 18, and an interactive workshop May 13 where the artists will share the process of writing, freestyle looping, and a guided movement activity.
The “Arts 2023” exhibit, the annual juried show organized with Arts Council of Surrey, will open May 20.
For details visit surrey.ca/artgallery, or call 604-501-5566.