A celebration of demonstration — visual activism
Wayne Campbell, Wacfo Publishing, £50

WAYNE CAMPBELL is an acclaimed photographer, award-winning filmmaker and graphic designer. As a photographer his work has allowed him to capture many special moments, including behind the scenes images on film sets, as a unit photographer for Channel 4 and even snapping the occasional celebrity. Although that work “was creative, stimulating and paid the bills,” he says, it clearly didn’t satisfy him as a recently politicised artist. 

In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd killing and Black Lives Matter campaigns, he fell deeply into what he calls “visual activism.” “My lens was awoken from its digital fog, allowing me to emotionally express my world,” he says. 

This album is a moving record of his work covering the demonstrations in London, in support of the Palestinian people and their struggle for justice. It is a stunning collection of almost entirely black and white, close-up portraits of those taking part in the demonstrations. He has a keen eye for those special moments when a face expresses something out of the ordinary: extreme anger, sorrow, joy and passion, as well as of reflection and meditation. 

Campbell’s images reveal an extremely diverse participation: people from many ethnic groups, men and women, young and old, the great and the good, all expressing solidarity, empathy and humanity, united by a cause. Alongside the images are several poems, short perceptive quotations and short statements from those taking part about their motivations for joining the demonstrations.

Campbell humbly explains how ignorant he was of the whole context surrounding the struggle for Palestinian rights when he began taking these photographs.

“There were gaping holes in my knowledge. I was not aware of and hadn’t taken the time to do a deep dive into the history and the issues I was now finding out about. What was the Nakba? What is anti-semitism? What is zionism and who are zionists? 

“To me it seemed as if the world was focusing on the immediate tragedy being played out in the region, without providing any historical context as to why it was happening. So I decided to find out more about the Israel-Palestine conflict. And one of the ways I did that was by joining the demonstrations that started to build in London in demand of an immediate ceasefire.” 

Profoundly moved by the crowds and the speakers while he was documenting the demonstrations, his images are not merely a response to the often distorted news headlines, they are an expression of solidarity, humanity, and an unyielding cry for justice in the face of a conflict that has shaken and divided the world. 

When not out on the streets, documenting protests and capturing images of resistance, Campbell runs a small Gallery in Brixton called A Celebration Of Demonstration. There, as well as selling his books and photographs, he hosts events focused on protest or, as he prefers to say, “empathy.” His own upbringing in Brixton, from a family of immigrants, has fed and nurtured his sense of resistance and solidarity. 

He says he will continue to fight for justice and call for empathy. “That is why I march,” he says, “why I have attended so many pro-Palestinian demonstrations, each one a vivid collection of people from all walks of life coming together with a shared purpose. 

“My role as a photographer has afforded me a unique vantage point, to use my art as a tool to share this experience with a wider audience, to demonstrate how art can be used to tell the stories we are not told on the news.

“Capturing these moments at these demonstrations has been both a privilege and a responsibility. Through my lens, I have sought to preserve the spirit, to document the passion and purpose that has brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets. To me, these images are more than just photographs; they are a visual record of a historic period, a testament to the resilience of those who stood up against oppression and fought for a just cause.” 

Campbell’s book expresses the essence of the British people’s response to the Palestinians genocide. We should never forget that Israel has systematically targeted women and children, bombing hospitals, destroying universities, flattening churches and mosques, obliterating refugee camps, targeting journalists, torturing prisoners, and denying people water and food. In one year, Israel dropped over 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, exceeding the combined bombings of Dresden, Hamburg, and London during the second world war. Israel has displaced over two million Palestinians living in Gaza, injured over 100,000 and killed tens of thousands. 

Campbell concludes: “It is so important that we not only realise we have a voice, but that in order to be heard, we have to use it.”