CRYSTAL Z CAMPBELL: I Live to Fight (No More) Forever
SOLO EXHIBITION from 25 June to 8 August 2013;
Opening Reception from 6-9pm on 22 June 2013

Crystal Z Campbell’s first solo exhibition, I Live To Fight (No More) Forever, extracts from sources in archaeology, science and collective memory. Central to the exhibition narrative is Henrietta Lacks––Lacks was an African-American woman who died of cancer in 1951. Lacks’ cells were taken when she was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the few hospitals that would accept an African-American patient during segregation. Lacks’ cells, which were growing independently of her body, would become known as the "immortal" cell line. Decades later, HeLa cells were used to decipher DNA, develop cures for polio and were later distributed around the world and into space for advanced scientific research.

With scientists at a research lab in the Netherlands, Campbell is growing HeLa cells immortal cells on diamonds as a symbolic link between commercial and biological value while questioning the value of forever. Bioethical concerns link several works in the exhibition including a triangular video projection of HeLa cells growing on diamonds, sculptures, drawings, and specimens. One work titled Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today features five slide viewers with texts forming a sentence regarding ideas of value, time and immortality.

In Things Fall Apart, named after Chinua Achebe's novel, Campbell's installation nods to the archaeological tradition of reverse engineering a civilization’s values, practices and rituals through its material traces. Campbell’s investigation of civilization and collective consciousness is evident in the inclusion of porcelain works juxtaposed with Rose Rock, scientific specimens and local Veronese marble. Campbell’s first solo exhibition prompts viewers to investigate historical and scientific narratives constructed from scientifically-derived evidence, porcelain sherds, geological matter and silence.

BIO
Crystal Z. Campbell (b.1980, Prince Georges County, lives in Amsterdam) received an MFA from the University of California, San Diego and an MA in Africana Studies from the University at Albany-State University of New York. Campbell's work has been exhibited at Project Row Houses in Houston, TX, de Appel in Amsterdam, Netherlands, ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art)-Philadelphia and the group exhibition, Fore, at the Studio Museum of Harlem amongst others.

She is a 2003 graduate of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and a 2010–11 Van Lier Fellow in Studio Art at the Whitney Independent Study Program. Campbell is currently a second-year artist in residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. www.crystalzcampbell.com

The project ‘I Live to Fight (No More) Forever’ is supported by the Amsterdam Funds for the Arts, Stichting Stokroos and the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten.