Joe Campbell
Crossing Borders is a debut collection of poems and paintings by artist Joe Campbell. A unique tapestry of beautiful images and honest experience, it is an artist’s view of life. It is also deeply personal. Described by Campbell himself as ‘more like painting with words than creating verse’, the poetry deals with difficult, stark, life experiences such as cancer, the Troubles and bereavement. The collection juxtaposes verse with paintings gleaned from over twenty years of professional work.
Born and reared in Derry, Campbell’s paintings also reflect a deep sense of place. The images are portraits of a city and its hinterland and pay homage to a place and to natural beauty. The result is a blend of poems and paintings that draw on history, distant memory and emotion, and which seek to establish empathy and common ground with the reader.
Crossing Borders is, above all, human and deeply rooted in real-life experience.
