Thomas Campbell lives a quiet, creative life in the Santa Cruz Mountains, not far from the Pacific. A multifaceted artist, Thomas makes paintings, ceramics, sewn pieces, films, shoots photos, creates and produces music. He stays balanced by moving from one medium to the next.
YI-WO, Thomas’ new surf film, unfolded over the past 11 years. He deferred sharing the pronunciation with me, but from another interview, I heard him say “why-woe.” He’s adamant that the name should be whatever you think it is. The title is meant to be thought-provoking—in fact, the entire experience is intended to be open to interpretation. With a reverence for life’s great mystery and surrendering to the present moment, Thomas creates an opportunity for viewers to interpret the sonic and visual experience through the lens of their own perception.
Thomas typically gets his body moving in the mornings before diving into creative endeavors. These days, walks along the sea cliffs or through the woods by his house have been great sources of inspiration. He still surfs occasionally, though rarely skateboards. For the past four years, he’s chosen not to drink alcohol, and appreciates the clarity it’s brought him. About once a year, Thomas delves into a potent mushroom experience—a catalyst for spiritual awakening that helps him realign with love and purpose.
By choosing to work only with a small, select group of collaborators, Thomas benefits from a freedom that allows the creative process to breathe and evolve in its own time, unbeholden to other’s visions or schedules.
The film’s ethos pushes back against the corporately owned environment we all inhabit. Thomas cuts through the noise of modern, commercial, consumeristic, algorithm-fed ideas.
“We’re being told so many things directly,” Thomas said. “These dumb narratives we’re being fed are bullshit.”
He believes those narratives pull us away from our own intuition. By balancing the scales toward awareness, Thomas creates time and space for ideas, feelings, and expression to simply exist—for the viewer to take from them what they will.
With a nod to his roots in DIY skateboarding and ’zine making culture, Thomas said of the vignettes that make up YI-WO, “… you can duct tape ‘em together and what you can make of ‘em is up to you.”
When considering the film’s identity, Thomas’ overarching theme was expansion. He felt the need to do something new: something authentic that recognized life as a self-expressive journey, communion with nature as supreme, and love as essential. “I just made the thing I wanted to make,” he said.
Shot on 16mm, YI-WO poetically features incredibly talented surfers—Lauren Hill, Dave Rastovich, Joel Tudor, Alex Knost, Ryan Burch, Craig Anderson, and others—riding an array of board styles and watercraft.
The music and slo-mo scenes cultivate a suspended-time vibe, stretching moments of glory and awe that would otherwise pass in the blink of an eye.
Antithetical to the standard, competitive, gnar-focused maneuvers that dominate most surf documentation, camaraderie and friendship are themes Thomas expresses in his films. A vignette with Lauren and Dave wave-riding on small inflatable rafts is especially fun. Their emotion is palpable, and their playfulness refreshing—a rare and deeply joyful sight that resonates with audiences. In fact, Thomas mentioned that more than half the people he’s talked with say it’s their favorite part of the film.
The soundtrack is predominantly compiled of music Thomas directed, produced, and made with friends. There’s no frame of reference for it—intentionally. Both the soundscape and the name act as portals to something new. Viewers absorb it for what it is: An entirely new experience.
Cone Cinq, the group that created most of the music featured, is a collaboration between Thomas, Monte Vallier, Caleb Gomes, and Damon Way. Tommy Guerrero, Ray Barbee, and over a dozen other friends also contributed. They recorded about 25 songs over the course of five years; an album will be released sometime in the future.
YI-WO doesn’t ask you to understand it—it asks you to feel it. To let your own meaning surface…
For those wanting to explore Thomas’ universe a little deeper //
The film’s website: www.yi-wo.mov
Um Yeah Arts is Thomas’ container for special projects: Records, books, prints, etc. umyeaharts.com
There’s an Um Yeah Arts Vimeo page which has a movie version of YI-WO for purchase, as well as Thomas’ Ye Olde Destruction skateboarding movie, which is free to view in its entirety.
YI-WO is a prayer, a habitual ritualistic gaze into the depths of the vast unknowable. YI-WO is a celebration of very purposely selected forms of the connective water sliding pursuits. It's a poem, a place to be or not to be untangled. A space for your time, to possibly honor the practice, this existence and the paths potential dimensional expansive qualities.
The movie "Yi - Wo" was completed in 2025 - Directed by Thomas Campbell
The surfers documented in the film are - Ryan Burch, Alex Knost, Craig Anderson, Karina Rozunko, Joel Tudor, Nick Melanson, Lauren Hill, Dave Rastovich, Ozzie Wright, Jared Mell, Ry Craike, Trevor Gordon and Bryce Young.
The Locations filmed are - Fiji, Morocco, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Australia, Utah, Hawaii and California.
Shot predominantly on 16mm film by Thomas Campbell, Dave Homcy, Scott Soens, Chris Bryan and Tyge Landa among others.
Soundtrack by - Cone Cinq, Spacemen 3, Group Inerane, Tommy Guerrero (with Josh Lippi and Matt Rodriguez), Arthur Russell, Kassia Meador and Alex Knost, Duane Pitre, Ray Barbee (with John Herndon and Josh Lippi), and Fuck Buttons.