Biography
Statement
I create mixed media assemblages, blurring boundaries between sculpture, drawing and installation, often large-scale and immersive. There is an overriding message of sustainability, with environment at heart; a passion for nature rooted in the notion of life’s interconnectedness, cyclical persistence, transformation. I am interested in tentacularity; the complex web of relationships from micro to macro. I see these rhizomic connections as metaphors for life, vitalism and regeneration. Life as line, energy, is an ongoing ‘doing’ thing - matter in a process of becoming. The work focuses on concerns about climate breakdown, human exploitation of nature and over-consumption, which has led to catastrophic mass animal/plant extinctions. My approach is a form of suturing, artivism, making do, care and repair, giving abandoned objects new life.
Materiality and process are key. My re-appropriation of reclaimed, found and discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter, nature, and ourselves. I regard materials as non-hierarchical. I use labour-intensive methods, often meditative, engaging directly with materials, deliberately showing the hand of maker. Processes include weaving, wrapping, hand stitching, soldering, welding and casting. There is a play of contrasts, an eclectic juxtaposition of delicate/soft and strong/hard. These can suggest organic bodily forms, sometimes abject.
The work blends ancient craft with contemporary concepts, fusing cultures. Deep-rooted connections with Kenya (where I was brought up) inform work. Larger concerns are layered over personal histories. I am interested in creating site-responsive work in unexpected places for art, reaching people who may not have engaged with contemporary art before.
Alongside my own practice, I work with community, teach and curate large-scale art projects and exhibitions in interesting spaces, involving collaboration and public engagement programmes for diverse audiences.
Biography
Raised in Kenya, Fiona is now based in Somerset. She has an MFA (Fine Art, distinction) from Bath Spa University, ‘18, PGCE '91 and BA Fine Art, Byam Shaw School of Art, '87. She was a finalist for The John Ruskin Prize '26, Cass Art Prize '25 (shortlisted), and Ingram Prize ’21. Awards include several Arts Council England grants - most recently DYCP ’22/23 (involving a research trip to Kenya & solo), Red Line Art Works Award ’20 for environmental installations Glut, Accretion, Snakes and Ladders, and Gilbert Bayes Award ’19. Exhibitions include: Wells Art Contemporary Installations '25 & '21, One Island - Many Visions, Portland '25, As Old as the Hills, Somerset '24; PADA, Portugal '24; Wander_Land, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall '23; Together We Rise, Chichester Cathedral '22; International Biennale, NCTRI Taiwan '21, and research fellowship Ingruttati Palermo (workshop & exhibition), Manifesta12, Sicily '18.
Fiona has curated and featured in some large-scale community projects such as B-Wing, an ACE-funded project in Shepton Mallet Prison, involving 8 artists/writers and community events. In 2015 Fiona was awarded Arts Council funding for an ambitious project step in stone - site-specific artscapes in Mendip quarries with 14 international artists. Fiona curated the multidisciplinary event which linked culture, environment and community.
Through representation at Maureen Michaelson Gallery, Fiona was commissioned to create a 4m hand woven canopy as a focal piece for Sarah Eberle’s Viking Cruises Mekong Garden, Chelsea Flower Show ’16, which won gold and best artisan garden. She was highly commended for her work as Green Capital Artist in Residence ’12, culminating in exhibitions at the Arnolfini, Harbour and Create Centre, Bristol.
Fiona serves on the Board of Trustees for Somerset Art Works, and was previously a SAW Rep. She is on the Programming Committee at Black Swan Arts, Frome, previously a Trustee.
Instagram @fionacampbellartist