Bearing Witness: The Photography of Nell Campbell

Source: The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture

The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture is pleased to announce a new exhibit featuring the photography of Nell Campbell in the Channing Peake Gallery, located in the County Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara. Produced by the County Arts Commission, the photography will be on display from July 6 through December 1, 2017. A reception for the artist will be held from 5-8 p.m. July 6 in the Channing Peake Gallery during the 1st Thursday art walk.  

In her solo exhibition, Santa Barbara-based artist Nell Campbell presents a selection of black and white and color images of rural and urban scenes from California to Cuba. Documenting stunning landscapes and dynamic parades in cities such as Santa Barbara and New Orleans, Campbell creates a moving narrative of the celebrations and daily struggles of people living in disparate geographic regions. This exhibition will be held concurrently with About Face: The Photography of Nell Campbell at UCSB’s AD&A Museum.

Bearing Witness is an intimate rendering of Campbell’s firsthand experience as a citizen of the world. Campbell was born in Biloxi, Mississippi and spent her childhood in New Orleans and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Much of Campbell’s photography addresses her native state, including a six-year documentation of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, panorama landscape photographs of the wetlands of southwestern Louisiana, coverage of Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Duck Blinds: Louisiana, a fifteen-year project capturing the unique handmade hunting blinds located on the Calcasieu River of southwestern Louisiana. Campbell’s photographs have been exhibited at galleries in California, Louisiana and Maine.

Campbell has worked for more than 40 years in the field of documentary photography, often depicting cultures and social justice movements in the United States and abroad, including the United Farm Workers Union and anti-war demonstrations, as well as the streets of Havana, Cuba and campesinos in the Pinar Del Rio and Valle de Los Ingenios regions of rural Cuba.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art have exhibited Campbell’s work and hold her photographs in their permanent collections.

About Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture:

The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture is a Division of the County’s Community Services Department, serving as the local governmental umbrella for arts and culture projects and programs within Santa Barbara County. The Office represents a longstanding partnership between the County of Santa Barbara and the City of Santa Barbara. For over 30 years, both governments have shared resources and staff to maximize support for Santa Barbara arts and culture institutions, programs, initiatives and projects.