Camille Billops stepped into the art scene as a sculptor. She also took up ceramics, sketching and painting during the early years of her career. Her art often depicts African American history and culture. Her work has been featured in international exhibitions at Gallerie Akhenaton in Cairo, Egypt, and El Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia in Cali, Colombia, among other art shows around the world.
Billops’ love of art lead her to explore multiple mediums, including filmmaking. Most of her films center on events pertaining to her family such as the award-winning and largely autobiographical “Finding Christa” (1991) about reuniting with the daughter she once gave up, and “Suzanne, Suzanne” (1982), which delves into her niece’s heroin addiction and recovery. She made several films with James Hatch, her husband and Black theater historian, under their Mom and Pop Productions company.
Billops’ and Hatch’s collaborations didn’t stop with their films. The duo also expended their efforts in establishing a massive collection of African-American art and history. The Hatch-Billops Collection includes thousands of recordings, publications and images. In addition to this archive, the couple also annually published Artist and Influence: The Journal of Black American Cultural History for 18 years.
In 1978, Billops teamed up with photographer James Van Der Zee and Owen Dodson to publish The Harlem Book of the Dead, a book about historic mourning and burial rituals in Harlem.
The Georgia Museum of Art is proud to include several of Billops’ works in the permanent collection. Check out our collections database to see more of Billops’ works of art.
Authored by:
Candice Lawrence
