"An Artist Working as a Letter Carrier - William P. Campbell" is a trans-generational experimental documentary film about an artist father by an artist daughter, long after the father’s death. A personal, sometimes funny - sometimes painful film, it explores themes around art, failure, love, family, and class. The film is feature length, and is now in the post-production stage.
It’s a film about my father, an artist, whose artwork is both a legacy and a burden to my brothers and me. My father shaped my ideas about art and art making in practical terms: how to look at art, why it’s important. He had lofty aspirations and yet he kept us fed by way of a tedious postal worker job. His practice was continual: during breaks carrying mail, he sketched; he wrote ideas on postal forms. When his job was finished, his work started. He’d paint all night. He didn’t rest and he died young. His name was William P. Campbell.
“'An Artist Working as a Letter Carrier' reconfigures the bio-documentary genre and redistributes the myth of the artist.” -Ulrike Müller