In conversation with Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell

“The books I read also guide larger bodies of work – Another Country by James Baldwin and I Want to be Ready by Danielle Goldman are two books I’m incredibly inspired and influenced by…”

 - Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell

Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell. Courtesy of the artist and Incubator, London.

Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell is an artist working across sculpture, image, and text, exploring personal and collective memory. She is currently studying at the Royal Academy Schools (graduating 2026) and holds a BA in Photography from the London College of Communication. Her work, shaped by her Caribbean and Nepalese heritage, examines structures that seem fixed but are fragile, using materials and processes that range from rope and flags to nineteenth-century photographic techniques. Selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2021), she has exhibited widely, including her first solo show Folklore Imaginary (2022), Duets at Teaspoon Projects (2025), I Want to Be Ready at Incubator (2025), and group exhibitions such as Christmas Show at Ginny on Frederick (2024), RAFT at the Royal Overseas League (2024), Insufferably Sweet at The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ (2024), and Amalgam at Chilli Art Projects (2024).

Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell’s solo exhibition, I Want to Be Ready, is on view at Incubator Gallery from 10 September to 5 October 2025.

Your practice spans sculpture, image, and text, how do you decide which medium is right for a particular idea or memory you want to explore?

I wouldn’t say that there’s ever a distinct moment of a medium-based decision being made in relation to an idea, but more frequently certain frames of mind lead me to seek out particular materials and processes.

My photographic work takes me out of my studio and into the darkroom. I use a Victorian process from the 1800s called wet-plate collodion, a large-format box camera and this process always engages with imagery from personal and historical archives. I’ve been making these works for years now with the assistance of artist and photographer Magda Kuca, who first taught me the method whilst I was still on my BA Photography course.

That way of working feels quite separate from what happens in the studio, which writing and language inform quite consistently. Bodies of work made using rope and flags are especially related to the spaces they’re made within and for, tension and collapse, repetition of gesture and movement. They all feel durational and physical due to the process.

The books I read also guide larger bodies of work – Another Country by James Baldwin and I Want to be Ready by Danielle Goldman are two books I’m incredibly inspired and influenced by, which have informed the titles of works or exhibitions.

Courtesy of the artist and Incubator, London.

In your upcoming solo exhibition at Incubator, what’s one piece or theme you’re most excited for audiences to engage with, and why?

I’m really excited for people to engage with the sound work on the ground floor, by artist and musician Lene Tassin, which is part of the wider installation on the ground floor. It uses the harp strings from a deconstructed piano, originally built by Tassin, to make the piece. This echoes some of the processes of deconstruction and reconstruction happening elsewhere within the exhibition.

Your Caribbean and Nepalese heritage informs your work. How do you see personal and collective histories intersecting in your art?

My grandmother was born in a region called West Bengal, which historically was a key part of the British East India Company’s colonial influence in India and a major export of raw materials such as jute. I remember her telling me about her childhood in a place called St Mary’s Hill, being sent to convent school to become a nun and deciding to run away. She was the only child out of eleven to emigrate and come to the UK, which is where I was born. Over the years there were also small details said in passing that alluded to the region’s entwinement with British colonial rule, like collecting silk as a young girl or the story of how her father, a pastor, was converted by a Jesuit priest as a boy. These are her experiences that she has shared with me over time, but this connection to place and history through generations has heavily informed the imagery and materials that I work with.

Courtesy of the artist and Incubator, London.

How do you hope visitors will interact with or experience your exhibition? Are there moments you want them to notice, question, or reflect on?

Whilst I want to resist being didactic about how people move through and respond to the exhibition, I hope it’s received as a body of work and that connections between the pieces, upstairs and downstairs, are felt.

You’re balancing life as a Royal Academy student with your first solo show in London. What’s the weirdest or most unexpected lesson you’ve learned from juggling both worlds?

Before starting at the RA as a student I hadn’t been able to afford a permanent studio space in London and was making work in my bedroom or in darkrooms when possible. We’re always having conversations about what we’re making in the studio and I’ve learnt a lot from everyone I’ve been surrounded by. The ongoing dialogue with really good friends who have been making sculpture for years has been so invaluable, and learning to ask for help when needed are all things that have made externalising my practice through exhibitions feel somewhat less daunting!

The jump from what the work is in my studio to what it becomes through the exhibition-making process has been really interesting to observe. Each of the pieces have their own demands, whether it’s to do with weight or needing to be further worked on during the installation period, studying alongside showing has helped me figure that out. In our second year there’s an interim showcase called Premiums in the Weston studio at the Royal Academy, I made a rope-work that ended up weighing around 100kg and initially broke a part of the wall. I had a lot of support carrying and mounting the work from peers and staff, it took six people to move it and wall had to be reinforced – which I had no clue how to do! It takes a village.

Looking ahead to your career post-graduation, are there any new directions, collaborations, or projects you’re excited to explore?

This past May I worked on a duo show called Duets with my friend Dwayne, curated by Gigi Surel (Teaspoon Projects) and Mariana Lemos. We each brought in collaborators and produced a publication together, which then launched at the ICA with a night of performances, readings and dancing – I want to do more things like that with friends! I’m also really looking forward to working at a slower pace once I leave my studios at the RA, writing, reading and hopefully having more time to teach.

Courtesy of the artist and Incubator, London.

The [Quick] #FLODown:

Best life advice?

Don’t rush!

A book or text you return to for inspiration?

Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector

Can’t live without?

Naps.

Which artist, living or dead, would you most love to have a conversation with?

James Baldwin.

What should the art world be more of and less of?

More warmth, less formality!

Instagram: @mayajcampbell