Gemma Campbell
Gemma Campbell (b. 1996, Aberdeen, Scotland), is a contemporary artist whose practice centres on the discipline of drawing. Driven by vulnerability, her work explores the complex psychological and physical experiences of living with chronic illness and trauma. Campbell’s creative process directly mirrors her fluctuating health, resulting in a cyclical pattern of production that moves between fast-paced, cathartic drawing and slow, compositional printmaking.
Campbell holds a BA (Hons) from Gray’s School of Art (2021) and a Masters in Drawing from the Paris College of Art (2024). Selected as an RSA New Contemporary in 2023, her work has been exhibited locally across Scotland and internationally, including at the Bastille Design Centre in Paris (2024). She has also undertaken a residency with The Museum of Loss and Renewal (2022). Campbell currently lives and works in Aberdeen, where she maintains a studio space with Outer Spaces.
Lungs of An Aberdonian, is a TetraPak Etching by Gemma Campbell of a gull behind a human ribcage. Campbell produced this work while expanding on her existing practice in monoprint through experimentation with different forms of printmaking. The drawn image was inspired by a feeling of being stuck, and unable to move past a certain time in life. The open beak of the gull suggests a "cawing" sound within the image, which is trapped and echoed between the cage of bone. This suggested restriction sound and movement links to the tension of living in an inaccessible environment. The gull is representative of her background living in coastal Scotland, where she adopted the bird as a motif. Campbell lives with chronic physical and mental illnesses, and this work is a manifestation of the challenges faced within these.
