Brixton photographer Wayne Campbell discusses the new edition of his book inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests with Tiah Shepherd
“In 2020, when we all witnessed the murder of George Floyd, I remember being so upset, so angry, so beside myself,” says Brixton born and based photographer Wayne Campbell.
“I remember just sitting at home asking myself, ‘What am I supposed to do?’”
Compelled by a need to record his community’s response to Floyd’s brutal death and armed with nothing more than a camera, Campbell joined hundreds of thousands of Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators on the streets of London for what was his first protest.
It was at this moment the artist says he stopped being a photographer and became a visual activist.
“I felt that my work needed to say more than ‘I’m pretty’ – it needed to have more substance. Visual activism, for me, is about feeling, photography is about seeing.”
Spurred by this belief, Campbell set about capturing the movement first-hand and in real time.
“I found myself in this space where all I wanted to do was record. I just wanted to be there. I wanted to make sure that our history did not become his [Floyd’s] story.”
This paved the way for A Celebration of Demonstration, a space in which Campbell showcases the unwavering resilience and solidarity among protesters through a collection of poignant black and white photos taken during the summer of 2020.
It is also the name of his 2023 debut photography book.
Five years on and with the book’s first edition having quickly sold out, a reprint has been launched under the title, I Can’t Breathe.
The relaunch event, “Resist, Repair, Relaunch” took place at Campbell’s Brixton Village gallery and was held in partnership with the Repair Campaign, an advocacy organisation which supports the Caribbean’s reparatory justice movement.
Brian Royes, campaign manager at the Repair Campaign, said the idea for a collaborative event came about after he connected with Campbell by chance at his gallery earlier this year.
“I was immediately drawn in by the stunning photography and the eclectic wall decorations of handwritten notes from the community,” Royes said.
“After speaking with Wayne about his work using photography to document resistance and advocate for change, I realised the synergies between the change he wanted to see and the repair Caribbean countries have been seeking to address the legacies of chattel slavery and colonialism.”
Guided by the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice, the Repair Campaign seeks to amplify calls for colonial powers and institutions that carried out and profited from genocide, the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy in CARICOM’s 15 member states, to apologise for this harm and and endeavour to repair it.
Local MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations and was among several speakers and performers at the event who stressed why injustices of the past must be acknowledged and remedied.
She said: “When we think about Black History Month, when we reflect on the issues that we have as a community, when we think about why this racism still exists, I want everyone to remember it’s because reparatory justice has not been done and commit themselves to fighting for that.”
In Britain, support for some forms of reparation appears to be growing.
According to a poll commissioned by The Repair Campaign earlier this year, 63% agreed that Caribbean nations and descendants of enslaved people should receive a formal apology. This marked a 4% increase from a similar survey carried out by the organisation last year. The poll of more than 2,000 adults representative of the UK population also revealed that support for financial reparations has risen to 40%.
However, those working within the movement recognise that major challenges remain in the road to building long-term and lasting repair.
Royes said: “Many people still don’t understand what reparatory justice means, why it matters, or how it connects to their present-day struggles.”
The same poll from March 2025 poll found that 85% of respondents did not know that more than three million people were forcibly shipped from Africa to the Caribbean by Britain during the transatlantic slave trade.
Almost 90% were unaware that Britain enslaved people in the Caribbean for over 300 years, and three quarters did not realise British taxpayers only finished paying on the money borrowed by the UK government to compensate slave owners for their “loss of property” after 2000.
In addition to a lack of understanding around the UK’s role in slavery and colonialism, Royes also pointed to an increasingly divided and extreme political climate which he believes is only making it harder to “engage in sincere conversation about repair”.
For Campbell, such political polarisation not only threatens what progress can be made, but has also left people unsure and even scared of how to meaningfully advocate for change.
“We’re caught between two paradigms,” he says. “We’re caught between fear and comfort. Don’t come outside and protest, you’ll get caught, you’ll get in trouble. Who’s going to pay your mortgage? You’ve got that credit card. You’ll have a criminal record.”
Seemingly unfazed and committed to capturing the spirit of protest – so much so that he postponed his own cancer treatment for three years – Campbell has now attended more than 100 demonstrations.
These have ranged from pro-Palestine marches and far-right rallies to examples of resistance and hope in the occupied West Bank in Palestine.
“I feel like I’m trying to build something which is bigger than me,” he says. “I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, but it feels like that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.
“I want to inspire and bring other visual activists on this journey. I can’t do this by myself.”
Along with new pictorial additions, I Can’t Breathe also features narrative excerpts, including a foreword from the acclaimed sociologist, historian and author Paul Gilroy, as well as original pieces from an eclectic mix of poets and activists.
Reflecting on his contribution to Campbell’s latest book, spoken word artist Mosaique said: “What I tried to do is capture the essence of creative rebellion.”
He continued: “I’m of Jamaican heritage, so there’s that warrior spirit from the 50s, 60s and 70s, the Windrush generation. Our spirit is strong, irrespective of whatever. It’s strong, and it keeps resurging.”
While Campbell believes that much of what led to Floyd’s brutal killing still exists, he remains confident that what has changed is the ability to record people’s attempts to resist, repair and relaunch.
“I think visual activism is a language and it’s an underutilised language. I want people to recognise visual activism. I want people to understand the power of empathy through visual activism,” he says.
You can find Campbell’s gallery in Market Row, Brixton Village, or follow A Celebration of Demonstration across all social media platforms.
