Clayton Campbell
What Is Democracy? (from the series Words We Have Learned Since 9/11), 2008
Photograph
Frame: 17 x 13 x 3/4"
AP

Artist Statement
What Is Democracy? Is from Words We Have Learned Since 9-11 was a participatory photographic project that originated in 2004. It is a visual conversation between various international communities about how people view themselves in a post "9-11" reality through learned or re-contextualized language. Public participation was at the core of the project. Exhibition visitors were invited to participate by identifying words they had learned or gained new meaning since 9-11. They then were photographed, and these portraits would be installed into the exhibition. The photographic series grew in size to over 1,500 portraits and has been exhibited in museums worldwide.

Artist Bio
Clayton Campbell is an artist and cultural producer working as a visual artist, curator, arts consultant and writer. He lives and works in Philadelphia.

He has been exhibiting paintings, drawings, prints and photographs since 1980 including museums, galleries, art centers and community spaces. They include the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; WYSPA Institute for Art; Gdansk Poland; International Center of Contemporary Art, Bucharest; Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing; University of Cape town, South Africa; Unit 24 Gallery, London; Nam Jun Paik Center, South Korea; Higher Bridges Arts Center, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland; Museum of Mobile, Alabama; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Wonder Institute, Santa Fe, and The Exploratorium, San Francisco.

Campbell's art digital projects have been featured online The Eye of Photography, Paris; exhibited in the show Atlas of Affects at Slought Gallery, Philadelphia; and currently his project making Our Miracles is featured in the online 2025-26 The Wrong Biennale through March 31- https://thewrong.org/MakingOurMiracles

Besides numerous private collections, his work is in the collection of the Wiggins Collection of Prints and Drawings, Boston Public Library; the Center for Political Graphics, Los Angeles; the Library of Congress 9/11 Print and Drawing Collection; The Phoenix Museum of Fine Art; the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art; the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; the Robert Bell Print and Drawing Collection, Santa Fe; and Highlands University Museum and Archives, Las Vegas New Mexico.
He has received research grants from the British Council, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding; a Durfee Foundation Fellowship; a MacDowell Colony Fellowship; artist in residence Fellowships at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland, and at the Centre de Art, CAMAC, France. In 2003 he was awarded the distinction of Chevalier, Order of Arts and Letters, by the French Ministry of Culture.

A published arts writer, he has contributed reviews, essays and features to Flash Art Magazine (Milan), Artillery Magazine (Los Angeles), Art Voices Magazine (Los Angeles), ArtPresse (France) Res Magazine (Istanbul), Contemporary Magazine (London), THE Magazine (Santa Fe), After Image (Rochester, NY and Berkeley, CA), DART Magazine (Toronto), and ArtBlog (Philadelphia.)

claytoncampbell.com