Filo Sofi Arts is proud to present SPIRIT GUIDES, the first dual retrospective exhibition of
dolls and paintings, by Kimberly Camp, opening December 11th, 2021. The retrospective
chronicles Camp’s reverence for her ancestors in paintings, and the breadth of her playful
imagination with one-of-a-kind dolls, featuring work from the early 1980’s to today. A mix of
paintings from the private collection of Cynthia Reese and art from Camp’s studio, this
exhibition showcases Camp’s trajectory from oils and alkyds to acrylic portraits and mixed
media with clay, fabric and adornment that challenge the very definition of dollmaking.
Kimberly Camp’s decades as an artist began in downtown Camden New Jersey, where she grew up with a Carnegie Library on the corner and an art supply store across the street. From a family of artists, Camp deepened her visual vocabulary by studying the origins and traditions of cultures in museums and with people around the world. Her work evidences her appreciation of the relationship of ancestry and spirit to the richness of patterns, colors and textures. Her paintings serve as an offering to her ancestors and their journey from sharecropping in South Carolina to the steel mills in western Pennsylvania.
During her travels, Camp collected an eclectic variety of textiles, beads, fur, leather, clay and
feathers, and always returned to rendering her ancestors whom she credits with fueling her
creativity. It wasn’t until a 1982 Kwanzaa Bazaar that Camp started making hand painted, hand dyed cloth dolls in traditional African dress. “I envision my dolls as unique beings – each with different markings, features, and personalities. Making them puts me in a meditative state”, says Camp, “where the doll dictates what it will eventually look like. I start with the head then let it guide me. They are a manifestation of my spiritual beliefs, curiosities, adorations and musings.”
Over time, Camp’s creations evolved into an array of human-like and anthropomorphic beings, some adorned with an array of beads that Camp studied when delving into the history of enslavement.
Kimberly Camp is among the matriarchal African American artists with extensive careers who were kept in the shadows and are now being brough to light. Her remarkable paintings remind us of a rich history that is continually renewed, rediscovered, and reinterpreted for the contemporary moment. Her dolls are created with a mélange of materials that capture Black joy, with subtle reminders of the challenge of Blackness in America.
