'I love Campbell' by Campbell Addy
Campbell Addy is best-known for his portraits of stars – Beyoncé, Kendall Jenner, FKA Twigs, Lewis Hamilton, Tyler the Creator. But the recipient of the 2024 RPS Award for Fashion, Advertising and Commercial Photography also likes to turn his lens on himself.
“I’ve done many self-portraits,” says the London-based photographer. “It’s been a motif of mine to darken my skin. It started with my magazine Niijournal, when I wrote a poem about feeling lost as a Black queer man in the world. I was very scared at the time for my future. I darkened my skin, almost reclaiming the trope of how Black people are seen.
“The previous self-portrait I did was very demure, eyes closed. This one was darker and straight to camera, almost as if I wanted to bear my soul, in more of a ‘warrior’ stance.”
He adds, “The hair is a connection to my mental health. Watching the film Donnie Darko (2001) when I was younger really allowed me to see things in myself that I thought were normal but clearly weren’t. The bunny ears are a representation of Frank in the film. It was a visual representation of the idea that I might be strong, I might be a warrior. I still have issues and things that may not be good, but I wear them like a crown and with love for myself, hence this image is called ‘I love Campbell’.”
Besides working on cover and interior photos for international brands such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Dazed, as well as personal photographic projects and exhibitions, Addy is also a painter and film-maker. He prides himself on creating work that portrays people authentically, usually as strong and empowered.
“When I went back through my archive for a show I was working on, I found I’d never really represented myself in self-portraits how I represent other people,” he says. “I’m so focused on making sure people are strong, loving, sexy and positive, but all my images of me were quite weak, quite vulnerable.
“So, this photo was the state I assumed as a pose to taking control, like, ‘No, you can still have all these issues and still be fab.’ This is the first time I looked at myself and actually liked myself.”
Discover more of Campbell Addy’s work and meet some of the 2024 RPS Awards recipients in the January-March 2025 issue of the RPS Journal.
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