Donald E. Camp
The List Gallery is pleased to present Donald E. Camp: Faces, a solo exhibition of works by the noted artist, on view March 5–April 6, 2025. This survey brings together photographs spanning nearly four decades that highlight Camp’s experimental printing processes and career-long commitment honoring the specific character of his subjects, inspiring self-reflection, and fostering dialogue about intolerance. Curated by Associate Curator Tess Wei, Faces features a selection from Dust Shaped Hearts, Camp’s ongoing series of large- and medium-scale photographic portraits made with casein and earth pigments. New faces in this series will be on view to the public for the first time and demonstrate the artist's recent experiments with digital photographic negatives. A selection of Camp’s lesser-known, non-figurative work will also be on display. Camp will lecture about his work on Thursday, March 20 at 4:30 PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema. The List Gallery reception will follow, 5:30–7:00 PM. List Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Sundays, Noon–5:00 PM. Gallery admission and events are free and open to the public. Camp’s exhibition and an accompanying catalog were made possible by the List Gallery Donor’s Fund.
Camp was born in 1940 in Meadville, Pennsylvania and began his career as a photojournalist in 1972. Throughout his life, Camp has been attuned to the dissemination of negative stereotypes published in the media, particularly headshots and cartoon caricatures of Black men. Inspired to combat the divisive images and other forms of bigoted discourse, Camp left his career as a photojournalist to study at Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, where he earned a BFA in 1987 and an MFA in 1989. Camp began his signature series, Dust Shaped Hearts, in the early 1990s. Large-scale portraits, such as Brother Who Taught Me to See – Mr. Herbert Camp and Man Who Prays – Mr. Moses Richardson, reflect his initial focus on the importance of intimate portraits of Black men. Such images honor significant figures in his life, including writers, judges, musicians, artists, and family members. In later works, such as Woman Who Sees Form and Color – Ms. Barbara Bullock and Woman Who Cooks – Chef Leah Chase, Camp portrays women who have influenced his personal and creative life.
Camp developed his signature printing method by incorporating elements of an early 19th century process involving casein and earth pigments. Camp agitates, brushes, scratches, and scrubs the surfaces of his prints with these materials and builds his images through repeated light exposures. The resulting images appear both emergent and weathered, improvisational and measured. Camp intentionally creates unique images rather than photographic multiples in order to honor the distinct qualities or essence of his subjects.
Prior to pursuing his BFA and MFA at Tyler School of Art, Camp worked as a photojournalist for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and was a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (ABJ). Camp’s work has been exhibited at distinguished institutions in the Philadelphia region, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Michener Art Museum, and the Philadelphia International Airport. His works have also been exhibited at the Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, DE, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, MI. He is Professor Emeritus at Ursinus College, where he was Artist-In-Residence for more than a decade. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards from distinguished organizations, including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Camp currently lives and works in Philadelphia.