Jesse Campbell
Victoria, Canada
My name is Jesse Campbell, my ancestry on my Mother’s side is Métis, Salteaux, and Cree and on my Father’s side I am mixed European. I live and work on the unceeded lands of the Lekwungen people.
I have worked as a professional Mural Artist since 2010 and have worked full time as a professional artist and arts facilitator since 2018. Presently I am the director of Tah’lum Indigenous Artists Collective and Campbell Visual Arts. Most of my practice centres public art installation and working with other First Nations people as an arts advisor and facilitator.
My philosophy in my work is “work in a good way”, meaning I try and provide space for collaboration with other First Nations artists through a relationship of mutual respect and dialogue. This philosophy also extends into my mural work where I try to re-imagine the urban landscape and tell the stories of the land and reclaim the landscape for nature and the First People of the land.
Mural Statement
Jesse Campbell joins BUMP this year to bring us his incredible mural of a Metis matriarch, Valarie Campbell – depicted with her hair braided into sweet grass and the iconic “mouse tracks” Métis beading pattern. In his piece Jesse reflects on Louis Riel’s statement: “My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.” This mural acknowledges the many great Métis artists who are currently emerging and growing their voice in this century, affirming that they are a people of the land living with the seasons and Indigenous kin.