Camille Billops (1933- )
Camille Billops (1933- ) is an artist. Born into a family of hard working aspirational individuals, she learned to use her creativity to express the breadth and depth of her unique vision. In a career that has encompassed five plus decades, she has been fearless. As a black female artist, Billops came into her own within the converging contexts of the 1960s civil and human rights struggles, New York’s emerging black artists movement, and her personal struggles for affirmation. Her work can be best understood as autobiographical, interpretive, and challenging. Without apology, she has successfully drawn from her life experiences, her education, and her observations of the world around her to carve out a space for her voice to be heard.
Every creative, cultural and racial experience has to do with my work. I sift and look and taste.
Camille at age 10, c. 1943
Camille (right), also known as "Bootsie," with her sister Billie, 1951
Camille and Jim in Cairo, Egypt, c. 1962-1966
Camille Billops at Eleven California
From left to right: Missy Cochrane, Richard Long, Camille Billops, and Deloris Aldridge, 2000