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.
22 Facts About Topher Campbell
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Topher Campbell holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex for his work in the arts and Black LGBTQ advocacy.
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Topher Campbell was born in Coventry, England, to a Jamaican mother and an unknown African-American Father.
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Topher Campbell has referred to his parents' relationship as "a love affair between his mother and a handsome stranger".
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Topher Campbell's mother abandoned Campbell after a breakdown at the age of one and he would not reunite with her until he was 13 years old.
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Topher Campbell was raised in the National Children's Home in Sutton Coldfield Birmingham.
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Topher Campbell 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.
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Topher Campbell is a former artistic director of The Red Room Theatre Company and past chair of the Independent Theatre Council UK.
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Topher Campbell is currently on the board of Marlborough Productions.
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Topher Campbell was selected for the prestigious Regional Theatre Young Directors Training Scheme at the age of 24.
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Topher Campbell was the first Black director to be awarded on the scheme.
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Topher Campbell is a former artistic director of The Red Room Theatre Company and past chair of the Independent Theatre Council UK.
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In 2018 Videojam and The Barbican commissioned Topher Campbell to create work for them.
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Topher Campbell 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.
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Topher Campbell moved into television directing in 2004 after completing the BBC Doctors Directing Course.
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Topher Campbell went on to direct episode of Doctors for two years.
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Topher Campbell has pursued an art career alongside his directing work.
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Topher Campbell created The Book of Politics for Transform Festival in Leeds.
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Topher Campbell was awarded the Prospect Cottage Residency in 2022 and invited to screen Fetish at the British School at Rome.
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In 2024, Topher Campbell was invited by Tate Modern to created an installation for the Transformer Rooms.
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Topher Campbell has cited Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien and James Baldwin as important influences on his work.
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Topher Campbell has 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.