Shawn Campbell is an artist located in the Midwest United States. He attended The University of Akron earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. His work explores the interactions, bounds, habits, and values of people who have come from different backgrounds, goals and beliefs. He is attracted to the interactions, experiences and lives that bring groups of people together. By documenting and participating Shawn is able to bring an authentic experience to his viewers. Congrats to Shawn for attending the University of Georgia to earn his MFA this Fall! Today we share a selection of images from his body of work, GET SOME.
GET SOME
It all started in my early teens. Though I can’t exactly tell you about the first time I had a drink of alcohol because I don’t remember it, I can tell you about the first time I smoked pot. It’s a day I will never forget, I coughed so hard I threw up. Throughout my life I have always been an outsider, never really felt like I fit in. There’s probably a million reasons but they don’t matter. The one thing I’ve always had in common with people is the ability to get really drunk and do wild shit for just about any reason we can imagine. Over the years, I’ve become very close to a group of people I can call my true friends. We have very different backgrounds and dreams for the future but something that always held us together was our ability to go out, get shitfaced, and have one hell of a time. Yes, sometimes shit gets a little out of hand: fights, tits hanging out, sex, guys jumping through windows, and broken hearts. But through it all we’ve stuck together. I’ve been able to make a bond with them that will never be broken. No matter how old I am, I will never forget our times bonging beers, drinking straight from the bottle, and having those late night talks that result in a brief moment of carefree living. You might say that we are just living our version of the American Dream.
One day I told myself that I needed to document our lives. There is something different about us. A simple 35mm point-and shoot camera with a built-in flash helped me document the critical moments that were occurring in and around my life. I just started shooting rolls and rolls of film. By capturing the habits, associations, indecencies, deviances, and freedoms we have experienced, I am able to record the moments that define us. The photographs are crude and raunchy but show a experience that can’t be displayed in any other way.
To view more of Shawn’s work please visit his website.