Russell Newell

Russell Newell [b.1965] is a self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist based in London, working across photography, film, painting, writing, perfumery and craft-making. Emerging from the community photography scene in Peckham in the late 1970s, his practice has continually moved between personal creative projects and broader work in film, digital media and design, always returning to questions of place, community and identity in South London.

His early work was shaped by mentorship from figures including Dave Hampshire, Martin Lister, Tony Hall and Martin Slavin, and by his time as a staff photographer and writer for the West Indian World, the UK's first Black newspaper. This grounding in documentary photography extended into film production, multimedia and community-based projects such as Video Penpals, an exchange of video letters between young people in Peckham, Boston and South Central LA that now stands as a historical record of a South London in the process of erasure. He continues to run the fragrance and craft goods brand Socialcreatures, founded in 2003.

Newell's work has been presented at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Cubitt Gallery and INIVA, London. He won the National Publishing Award for Best Use of Photography for a feature on the North Peckham Estate, and the National Black Programming Consortium's Best Independent Producer award in the US for his 1992 Channel 4 film. He is currently CEO and founder of Isofi, a music and mental health tech startup.

Staffordshire St is excited to present 'Peckhams', a new immersive exhibition by Newell opening in May, 2027.

For all sales enquires please contact STST Artistic Director, Dee Haughney; dee@staffordshirest.com