Elsa James was born in London, England to parents of Caribbean origin and currently lives and works in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. In 2005, after completing the HND Fine Art at Havering College, Essex, she was invited back to a ten-month residency there where she produced the video piece Lies Myths & Truths. In 2010 she completed the BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree at Chelsea College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, gaining First-Class Honours. During that time, her work has been engaged in an art practice that moves between multiple mediums - video, performance, text including concrete poetry, and installation.
Contextually her work often addresses the fluidity of identity, expressing contemporary society's relationship with race, ethnicity and gender. As well as using her personal experiences as a mother as a point of reference, she also considers the implications of what it means to have a Black British identity. In her recent video works, looking at the intersection of race and gender, she turns the camera onto the herself and seeks to express ways in which the work can create a space for dialogue. This pointing the camera onto herself and ‘performing herself performing’ has been recurrent throughout her practice.
