British-Ghanaian photographer Campbell Addy is amongst a recent class of Black image-makers redefining image-making. Centering Black subjects, creating truly diverse sets, interjecting their stories into the cannon, and demanding to be seen.

Over the span of his six-year skilled photography profession, he’s shot the likes of fashion royalty Naomi Campbell, Debra Shaw, and Adut Akech, popular culture icons like Tyler the Creator and Beyoncé, and countless magazine covers, fashion editorials, and campaigns. His work speaks for itself. It’s daring, transcendent, and incredibly intimate. “People have auras, colours, and energies and I try to choose up on that—to see them,” Addy tells ESSENCE. This intimate visibility is the topic of Addy’s forthcoming (it’s already available to UK readers, set to release in The States this June) debut monograph, ‘Feeling Seen’.

ESSENCE caught up with the in-demand photographer to speak all about his recent book, earliest memories of representation, how his dual British-Ghanaian heritage influences his work, queer expression, and the experience of photographing everyone’s favorite fashion icon, Naomi.

‘Feeling Seen’ is a survey of Campbell’s work; each skilled and private. “I began off by going from my entire archive, which I haven’t done before and I believe by having a theme of feeling seen/feeling seen throughout my explorative work, it allowed me to only pick imagery that best illustrated that,” says Campbell, speaking on the strategy of curating the book.

The book with its vibrant cover (a picture of model Fadhi Mohamed in a crimson, sequined Bottega Veneta dress surrounded by a bed of anthuriums) encapsulates the attention through which Campbell sees the world. “I wanted the colours to supply travel. So, as you flip through you see a blue section, after which a red section, just so it’s also visually pleasing to the attention because it goes forward” Campbell adds. 

Feeling/Being Seen

Along with the gorgeous photographs of FKA Twigs and model Enam Asiama, the book is at its core a love letter to representation. Alongside the pages of striking, images are passages and testimonials from a couple of of Campbell’s collaborators; discussing the protected space he creates, allowing them to “feel seen”. From acclaimed hairstylist Virginie P. Moreira and fellow recent black vanguard photographer Nadine Ijewere to Naomi Campbell herself.

“The primary time I got in front of the camera lens and looked as much as see Campbell Addy, I spotted something special was happening”—an excerpt of Naomi’s blurb in ‘Feeling Seen’. One would wonder what it appears like to have such an icon like Naomi speak to your craft. “How does it feel? I don’t know—it’s weird.” Speaking on his colleagues’ inclusion within the book, “they’ve also facilitated my visibility by an understanding of seeing me as an individual.”

Double Perspective

One in all the various things that make Campbell and subsequently his work quite special and familiar, is the incontrovertible fact that he himself, exists inside many intersections. He’s a Black queer man born in London to Ghanaian parents. These overarching identities extend to his practice of specializing in distinctive casting and under-represented faces.” I believe I’m in a position to draw from each cultures more so the one I grew up in, but I believe it gives me a double perspective on things,” says Campbell referring to his British-Ghanaian heritage.

For people of color, representation speaks volumes. The primary time you see yourself reflected in media/entertainment is kind of transcendent. For Campbell, it was through a series of Nollywood movies from his adolescence. “My mom used to look at these old Nollywood movies and there have been these two young boys, Aki and Pawpaw, but they’d this dwarfism condition, so that they were actually grown, men. My mom used to say that’s me and my brother. He goes on to say, “growing up in England, you didn’t all the time see that because numerous stuff I saw was very white facing.”

“There’s an essence, that’s visceral, if you’re listening to, watching, and digesting things, from a bunch of marginalized people.”

Campbell Addy

The Queer Mind Is Evolved

“I believe the whole lot I do is queer.” Campbell’s work often highlights marginalized communities and folks; various skin tones of the diaspora, plus-sized bodies, and queer folx.” I often toyed with the notion of the queer mind is evolved” says Campbell. “There’s an essence, that’s visceral if you’re listening to, watching, and digesting things, from a bunch of marginalized people [that are still marginalized now]. This sense of queer expression permeates to his work. “It comes into my work; the casting, people, the music— the ideas all stem from that energy, that queerness.”

Feel Uncomfortable Again

“What’s next? I’m so young—the whole lot. I need to have a baby, get married, reduce weight after which put it back on again.”

Campbell reminds us that though he could also be a heavyweight on the international fashion stage, he remains to be within the early stages of his profession. “It’s only been roughly 4 or five years since I’ve been working professionally, so there’s a lot I need to do next.” I need to push myself. I need to feel uncomfortable again” he says passionatly. “So what’s next in a less complicated term is freedom. More freedom of expression.”

‘Feeling Seen’ is to be globally released on June 7, 2022, in any respect major book retailers.