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Topher Campbell

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Topher Campbell

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date =

| birth_place = Coventry, England

| other_names =

| occupation = Artist, Filmmaker, Performer, Archivist, Writer, Sculpture

| alma_mater = University of Sussex

| spouse =

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}}

Topher Campbell is an artist filmmaker and writer who has created a range of works in broadcasting, film, theatre, television, performance, installation, exhibitions and archive. His works explores sexuality, masculinity, memoir afro-futurism and the city, particularly in relation to feelings sensations emotions and climate change.{{Cite web|title=Welcome to Topher Campbell, our new Programme Director of MA/MFA Collaborative Theatre Making|url=https://www.bruford.ac.uk/welcome-to-topher-campbell-our-new-programme-director-of-ma-mfa-collaborative-theatre-making/|date=14 July 2020|access-date=28 November 2022|website=Rose Bruford College|language=en}} Campbell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a past recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award (2005).{{cite web|url=http://www.jerwood.org/download.php?id=36|title=Jerwood Directors Award}} He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex for his work in the arts and Black LGBTQ advocacy. {{Cite web |last=Walters |first=Tom |title=Sussex marks historical LGBT+ progress |url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/40957 |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=The University of Sussex |language=en}}

Early life

Campbell was born in Coventry, England, to a Jamaican mother and an unknown African-American Father. Campbell has referred to his parents' relationship as "a love affair between his mother and a handsome stranger".{{Cite web|last=Maglott|first=Stephen A.|date=2018-01-01|title=Topher Campbell|url=https://ubuntubiographyproject.com/2018/01/01/topher-campbell/|access-date=2021-01-28|website=Ubuntu Biography Project|language=en}} His mother abandoned Campbell after a breakdown at the age of one and he would not reunite with her until he was 13 years old. He was raised in the National Children's Home (now Action for Children) in Sutton Coldfield Birmingham.{{Cite web |title=The National Children's Home (NCH) Story: Early Days |url=https://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/NCH/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=www.childrenshomes.org.uk}} In his 20's, Campbell was a "club kid " on the scene in London, Paris and New York, and worked as a model.{{Cite web|last=Black|first=Busy Being|title=Busy Being Black - Topher Campbell: Fetish|url=https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYWNhc3QuY29tL2J1c3liZWluZ2JsYWNr/episode/aHR0cDovL3d3dy53aXphcmRyYWRpby5jby51ay9wb2RjYXN0cy9idXN5YmVpbmdibGFjay9jYXRhbG9ndWUvMjAxODA0MjJfVG9waGVyQ2FtcGJlbGxGZXRpc2gubXAz|access-date=2021-01-28|website=Google Podcasts|language=en}}

He was the first member of his family to go to University, attending the University of Sussex and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in intellectual history. In 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Sussex for his work; it is the first Honorary Doctorate to be given to an openly Black Queer man in the UK.{{Cite web|last=Walters|first=Tom|title=Sussex marks historical LGBT+ progress|url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/40957|date=28 July 2017|access-date=2020-04-25|website=The University of Sussex}}

Campbell has described himself as "acutely shy throughout [his] 20’s and into [his] 30's", which caused him to learn to establish himself as "commanding decisive and clear" in "professional settings".

Career

As an actor he has starred in Isaac Julien's Trussed,{{Cite web|title=Trussed|url=https://www.isaacjulien.com/projects/trussed/|access-date=2020-04-25|website=Isaac Julien|language=en}} Campbell X's Stud Life,{{Cite web|title=Stud Life (2012) |website= IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1758770/fullcredits|access-date=2020-04-25}} and Ian Poitier's Oh Happy Day.{{Cite web|title=Oh Happy Day (2007) |website= IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059817/fullcredits|access-date=2020-04-25}} He is a former artistic director of The Red Room Theatre Company and past chair of the Independent Theatre Council UK.{{cite news|last=Nancy|first=Groves|date=9 April 2013|title=Arts head: Topher Campbell, chair, Independent Theatre Council|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2013/apr/09/topher-campbell-itc-diversity-arts}}{{cite web|last=Hemley|first= Matthew|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/scrap-artistic-directors-urges-red-room-boss |title=Scrap artistic directors, urges Red Room boss|website=The Stage|date= 13 May 2016|access-date= 28 November 2022}} In 2000, he co-founded rukus! Federation a Black LGBTQ Arts collective with the artist Ajamu X.{{Citation |title=Ajamu X |date=2024-11-10 |work=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajamu_X |access-date=2025-02-21 |language=en}} In 2017, he was longlisted for the Spread the Word's inaugural Life Writing Prize for his forthcoming memoir Battyman.{{Cite web|title=Life Writing Prize|url=https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/life-writing-prize/|access-date=2020-04-25|website=Spread the Word|language=en-GB}} He is currently on the board of Marlborough Productions{{Cite web |title=Team |url=https://marlboroughproductions.org.uk/team/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Marlborough Productions |language=en-GB}}

= Theatre =

Campbell was selected for the prestigious Regional Theatre Young Directors Training Scheme at the age of 24.{{Cite web |last=RTYDS |title=Directors, alumni and past participants – RTYDS |url=https://www.rtyds.co.uk/directors-and-alumni/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme - RTYDS |language=en-GB}} He was the first Black director to be awarded on the scheme.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} He is a former artistic director of The Red Room Theatre Company and past chair of the Independent Theatre Council UK. The Red Room was an experimental theatre company dedicated to challenging the status quo through innovative work and collaborations. It was also a founder company of a series of performance research projects across Europe called the @worknetork that included Theatre and Performance companies from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Portugal.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} As artistic director he created The Oikos Project, an artist led conversation about climate change and activism including play commissions, community engagement and a new installation.{{Cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=2010-09-01 |title=Oikos |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/sep/01/oikos-review |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} This also included a collaboration with the architect Martin Kaltwasser to create the UK's first fully functioning recycled theatre and installation art work, The Jellyfish Theatre.{{Cite news |last=Glancey |first=Jonathan |date=2010-08-16 |title=Junkitecture and the Jellyfish theatre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/16/junkitecture-jellyfish-theatre-kaltwasser-kobberling |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |date=2010-08-26 |title=London's Jellyfish Theatre Made From Pallets Opens Today! |url=https://inhabitat.com/londons-jellyfish-theatre-made-from-pallets-opens-today/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building {{!}} Green design & innovation for a better world |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Kaltwasser : Making Futures |url=https://www.making-futures.com/contributor/kaltwasser/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=www.making-futures.com}} The Jellyfish Theatre was nominated for the AKA What's On Stage Theatre Event of the Year Award, 2011 and the Architects Journal Small Projects Award.{{Cite web |last=WestEndTheatre |date=2011-02-21 |title=Whatsonstage Awards – Nominations Shortlist 2011 {{!}} West End Theatre |url=https://www.westendtheatre.com/10212/news/awards/whatsonstage-awards-nominations-shortlist-2011/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=www.westendtheatre.com |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Fulcher |first=Merlin |date=2011-02-10 |title=Köbberling & Kaltwasser wins AJ Small Projects award |url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/kobberling-kaltwasser-wins-aj-small-projects-award |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=The Architects’ Journal |language=en}}

Other work includes Unstated, a multi-media installation and performance,{{Cite news |last=Gardner |first=Lyn |date=2008-07-08 |title=Unstated |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/jul/08/theatre.politicaltheatre |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} the Poverty Project,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcmJx541bYw |title=LOST NATION - A Documentary About Poverty in London - by The Red Room |date=2013-11-24 |last=The Red Room |access-date=2025-02-21 |via=YouTube}} and the Red Room Platforms, a series of interactive arts and politics interventions.{{Cite web |title=The Red Room |url=https://www.youtube.com/@TheRedRoomUK |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=YouTube |language=en}}

Film

Campbell's films have appeared in festivals worldwide. His first film, The Homecoming (1995) about the artist and photographer Ajamu X commissioned by Black Arts Video Project, is a meditation on Black masculinity and sexuality, themes Campbell has continued to explore throughout his work.{{Cite web|title=Watch The Homecoming: A Short Film about Ajamu|url=https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-homecoming-a-short-film-about-ajamu-1995-online|access-date=2020-04-25|website=BFI Player|language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=X |first1=Ajamu |last2=Campbell |first2=Topher |last3=Stevens |first3=Mary |date=2009 |title=Love and Lubrication in the Archives, or rukus!: A Black Queer Archive for the United Kingdom |url=https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13240 |journal=Archivaria |language=en |pages=271–294 |issn=1923-6409}}:282

== ''Fetish'' (2018) ==

In 2018 Videojam and The Barbican commissioned Campbell to create work for them.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2021-08-20 |title=Review: Video Jam X Basquiat At The Barbican |url=https://www.theransomnote.com/art-culture/events/review-video-jam-x-basquiat-at-the-barbican/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Ransom Note |language=en}} The resulting piece, FETISH, was inspired by the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat.{{Cite web|date=2020-05-19|title=PERFORMING MASCULINITIES AND THE BLACK BODY|url=https://sexualitysummerschoolonline.wordpress.com/performing-masculinities-and-the-black-body/|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Sexuality Summer School|language=en}} In it, Campbell walks naked through the streets of New York City. Describing his process, Campbell stated:

FETISH came about because I wanted to express more complex, nuanced and creative notions of my space in the world whilst also honouring the fallen. It’s a film that I willed into being as a place for me to reflect on all the different masculinities and femininities inside of me and to offer a vision of humanity and humanness; amongst all the violence and degradation.
The work reflected the challenges of walking through the city, and generally navigating space as a Black person. He considered the work a dual journey, a protest on the streets of Manhattan, as well as an artistic journey for the audience viewing the film. It was created in collaboration with 2014 Mercury Music Prize winners Young Fathers.{{Cite web|title=The Black Body in Performance: a screening of FETISH|url=https://autograph.org.uk/events/the-black-body-in-performance-a-screening-of-fetish|access-date=2020-04-25|website=autograph.org.uk}}{{Cite news|last=Bromwich|first=Kathryn|date=2018-02-25|title=Young Fathers: 'Everybody has a dark side. We're all complicit…'|language=en-GB|work=The Observer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/25/young-fathers-interview-cocoa-sugar|access-date=2020-04-25|issn=0029-7712}}

Campbell moved into television directing in 2004 after completing the BBC Doctors Directing Course.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} He went on to direct episode of Doctors for two years.{{Cite web |title=Topher Campbell {{!}} Director, Actor, Writer |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1477699/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}} He then directed Eastenders between 2007 and 2010.{{Cite web |title=Topher Campbell {{!}} Director, Actor, Writer |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1477699/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}} Other directing credits include Una Marson Our Last Caribbean Voice for BBC and Moments that Shaped Black Queer Britain for BET/Paramount.{{Cite news |last=Nicholson |first=Rebecca |date=2022-10-23 |title=Una Marson: Our Lost Caribbean Voice review – a beautiful, moving portrait of BBC's first Black broadcaster |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/oct/23/una-marson-our-lost-caribbean-voice-review-a-beautiful-moving-portrait-of-bbcs-first-black-broadcaster |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |date=2022-06-14 |title=Moments that shaped queer Black Britain |url=https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/14/moments-that-shaped-queer-black-britain-16825185/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Metro |language=en}}

Artist

Campbell has pursued an art career alongside his directing work. He created The Book of Politics for Transform Festival in Leeds.{{Cite web |title=Archive |url=https://transformfestival.org/archive/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Transform |language=en}} His work in theatre has continually experimented with installation. site specific spaces and mixed media experiences. He was awarded the Prospect Cottage Residency in 2022 and invited to screen Fetish at the British School at Rome.{{Cite news |last=Barton |first=Laura |date=2022-11-19 |title='You might as well be on the moon': the authors taking residence in Derek Jarman's home |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/19/authors-deborah-levy-juno-dawson-derek-jarman-home |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

Tate Modern

In 2024, Campbell was invited by Tate Modern to created an installation for the Transformer Rooms. My Rukus! Heart{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Topher Campbell – Display at Tate Modern |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/display/tanks/topher-campbell |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}} is an exploration of sexuality, the Black Queer Body, memory and an archive of emotion’ there is humour, sex and the preservation of Black queer life.{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Topher Campbell – Tate Etc |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-64-winter-2024/topher-campbell |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}

= rukus! Federation =

In June 2000, Campbell and Ajamu X founded rukus! Federation, a Black Queer arts charity dedicated to presenting the best in work by Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (BLGBTQ) artists.:277{{cite news|date=6 November 2009|title=Topher Campbell Profile|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/topher-campbell|accessdate=24 March 2012}} The name, which "is a derivative of the word 'raucous{{'"}} and also draws on the name "Rukus [ . . . ] a well-known African-American porn star" was chosen in order to "present [the artists'] politics more playfully".:277

In 2005 the rukus! archive project was launched. Originally, they "wanted to call it the Black, Lesbian, and Gay Queer Archive" but the Charity Commission "objected to the word queer, because some people might find it offensive" and the name was changed. Housed at the London Metropolitan Archives, Campbell and Ajamu X founded the archive to:

collect, preserve, exhibit, and otherwise make available for the first time to the public historical, cultural, and artistic materials related to the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in the United Kingdom.
It is the UK's first and only archive dedicated to Black LGBTQ artists.{{Cite web |title=Aesthetica Magazine - Making a Rukus |url=https://aestheticamagazine.com/making-a-rukus/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Aesthetica Magazine |language=en-GB}} In 2008 it received the London Metropolitan Archives' Archive Landmark Award. Projects related to the archive include the play Mangina Monologues.

In 2024 Topher Curated Making A rukus!{{Cite news |last=Okundaye |first=Jason |date=2024-10-11 |title=Making a rukus! review – rousing and emotional celebration of Black LGBTQ+ culture |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/11/making-a-rukus-review-rousing-and-emotional-celebration-of-black-lgbtq-culture |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |last=Tabberer |first=Jamie |date=2024-10-01 |title=12 images from Making a rukus! Black Queer Histories through Love and Resistance |url=https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/rukus-somerset-house-london-473796/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Attitude |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Loffhagen |first=Emma |date=2024-11-01 |title=Inside Making a Rukus!, the new exhibition celebrating London's black LGBTQ+ history |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/exhibitions/rukus-somerset-house-london-exhibition-black-lgbtq-b1190945.html |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=The Standard |language=en}} a dynamic exhibition for Somerset House. Making A rukus! told the story fo the origins of rukus! Federation as an arts project culminating in the rukus! Archive{{Cite web |title=Being black and LGBTQ in Britain |url=https://news.sky.com/video/being-black-and-lgbtq-in-britain-12727063 |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Sky News |language=en}}

Influences

Campbell has cited Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien{{Cite web |title=Isaac Julien |url=https://www.isaacjulien.com/ |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Isaac Julien |language=en}} and James Baldwin{{Cite web |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/introduction-james-baldwin |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=nmaahc.si.edu}} as important influences on his work.:282 He has also drawn on academic thinking "around Black mainstream identity politics around hybridity, and notions of difference and diversity, as defined by Black artists", for example, Sonia Boyce.

Radio

Plays

  • Blood Knot (Derby Playhouse) (1990)
  • Woza Albert (1991)
  • Necklaces (Talawa Theatre Company) (1992)
  • Flamingo Theatre London (1992)
  • Moor Masterpieces (West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1996)
  • Wicked Games – (West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1996)
  • Good Copy – (West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1996)
  • Jar the Floor – (West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1997)
  • Pantheaon of the Gods – (Young Vic Theatre) (2001)
  • Dead Funny – (Nottingham Playhouse) (2001)
  • Unstated (2008)
  • Oikos (2010)
  • Protozoa (2010)

Filmography

= As director =

class="wikitable"

!Title

!Year

!Notes

The Homecoming: A Short Film About Ajamu

|1996

|Also served as producer and writer

A Mulatto Song

|1997

|

Don't Call Me Battyman

|2004

|

In this Our Lives The Reunion

|2008

|Also served as producer, editor, and camera operator

[http://randomacts.channel4.com/#/random_acts/one/404 Invisible]

|2012

|For Channel 4

FETISH

|2018

|

= As actor =

class="wikitable"

!Film

!Year

!Role

!Director

Trussed

|1996

|

|Isaac Julien

Oh Happy Day

|2006

|Randy

|Ian Poitier

Stud Life

|2012

|

|Campbell X

Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn

|2014

|On-screen participant

|

As writer

  • For Coloured Boys
  • Black and Gay in the UK
  • On Freedom: Powerful Polemics by Supporters of Belarus Free Theatre
  • Brothas 2.0 part or Outlaws to Inlaws (Kings Head Theatre London)

As executive producer

  • Oikos, a Journey in Wood (2010)

Awards

  • Jerwood Directors Award (2005){{cite news|last=Austin|first=Jeremy|title=Young directors benefit from Jerwood Award|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2005/07/young-directors-benefit-from-jerwood-award/|newspaper=The Stage|date=19 July 2005}}
  • London Metropolitan Archives Award (2008)
  • Small Projects Award (2010){{cite web|url=http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/kbberling-and-kaltwasser-wins-aj-small-projects-award/8611182.article|title=Köbberling & Kaltwasser wins AJ Small Projects award|date=10 February 2011}}
  • Nominated for the Urban Intervention Award 2010{{cite web|title=Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2010 – 'Understanding a Different City'|url=http://www.goethe.de/ins/ng/lag/kue/arc/en6926616.htm}}
  • Nomination for the AKA Theatre Event of the Year Award{{cite web|author=Editorial Staff|title=Whatsonstage.com Awards Nominees Announced|url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/west-end-theatre/news/12-2010/whatsonstagecom-awards-nominees-announced_10611.html}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/16/junkitecture-jellyfish-theatre-kaltwasser-kobberling The Guardian: Jelly Fish Theatre ]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/topher-campbell The Guardian Profile: Topher Campbell]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20100929091512/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatretrailers/8023231/Topher-Campbell-on-the-Jellyfish-theatre.html The Telegraph: Topher Campbell on the Jellyfish Theatre]
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/feb/01/guardiansocietysupplement The Guardian: Public Inquiry]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20111127080906/http://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/about/team/topher-campbell UK Black Pride: Topher Campbell]
  • [http://www.theredroom.org.uk/about/who-we-are/ The Red Room: Topher Campbell]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20091019174812/http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/people/114 The BFI: Topher Campbell]
  • Merrifield, Nicola, [https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/itc-names-topher-campbell-as-new-chair "ITC names Topher Campbell as new chair"], The Stage, 22 March 2016.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Topher}}

Category:Black British filmmakers

Category:British film directors

Category:British male screenwriters

Category:British theatre directors

Category:Living people

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)