Colin Campbell

Campbell was a pioneer of video art in Canada. He began exploring video in the early 1970's when the use of video in visual arts was still marginal. He created one of his earliest videos, Sackville I'm Yours (1972) using a video camera borrowed from the Mount Allison University football team during the off season. In the video he plays the persona of "Art Star", a legend in his own mind responding to a media interview while "roughing it out" in rural New Brunswick.

Campbell used video as an accessible and flexible means for story telling. Starring in almost all of his works, his videos explore themes of gender and sexual identity with humour and pathos.

Campbell's work has been exhibited internationally since the mid-1970s, including the 1977 São Paulo Biennale, 1980 Venice Biennale and 1992 Istanbul Biennale. In 1990 the Winnipeg Art Gallery organized a national touring retrospective of his videotapes (1972–90). His first film, Skin, premiered at the Festival of Festivals (Toronto International Film Festival) in 1991. In 2008, Oakville Galleries held a retrospective exhibition of Campbell's work.

His work has been reenacted by contemporary artists including Amy Siegel. In 2021, Siegel screened Sackville I'm Yours...Too, as an homage to the artist and rural queer communities, at festivals including Silver Wave Film Festival and SappyFest.

In 2013 Canadian artist Benny Nemer revisited Campbell's 1972 video True/False. Originally intended as a remake, Nemer's work, Colin is my real name, instead summons Campbell's voice to once again speak statements related to his identity and private life. Nemer's video was filmed at Mount Allison University, where True/False was originally produced. It was exhibited on the university campus and premiered at the Per Speculum Video exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein in 2013.