Explore the CV of artist Elsa James and delve into her artistic achievements. BIO CV PUBLICATIONS PRESS MEDIA CV Close b. 1968, London, England Lives and works in Essex, England Education 2024 - 27: Master of Research (Practice-Based), Royal College of Art, London, UK 2020 - 21: Syllabus VI, Alternative MA Programme with Wysing Art Centre, Eastside Projects, iniva, Spike Island + Studio Voltaire, UK 2013 - 15: Postgraduate Certificate, Participatory and Community Arts, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK 2006 - 10: BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, UK (First Class Hons) Solo Exhibitions and Performances 2027 - Solo exhibition, TBA (Forthcoming) 2025 - Elsa James: It Should Not Be Forgotten, Firstsite, Colchester 2024 - The Mary Price Narratives Part III, Mimosa House, London 2024 - Gestures Towards Telling A New Narrative, National Maritime Museum, London 2023 - Requiem for Empire (2022), Bernie Grant Arts Centre, London 2023 - Free to Flourish, Tate Britain, London 2023 - Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar, Museum of London Docklands, London 2022 - Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, Focal Point Gallery, Southend 2019 - Elsa James: Black Girl Essex, Firstsite, Colchester 2018 - Forgotten Black Essex, Metal Culture, Southend Selected Group Exhibitions 2025 - Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah, Hayward Gallery Touring, VISUAL Carlow, Ireland 2025 - How to be in the Future, 7th annual Salon for a Speculative Future (SFASF), Chisenhale Art Place Studio, London 2025 - Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah, Hayward Gallery Touring, DCA, Dundee 2025 - There are other skies, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Arizona, USA 2024 - Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah, Hayward Gallery Touring, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield 2024 - Intension (the concept 'dog' encapsulates its 'dogness'), Curated by Will Lunn, Copperfield, London 2024 - Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah, Hayward Gallery Touring, MAC, Birmingham 2024 - transfeminisms Chapter III: Fragile Archive, Curated by Christine Eyene, Daria Khan, Jennifer McCabe and Maura Reilly, Mimosa House, London 2024 - Liberation in Four Movements, Curated by Ingrid Jones, The Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2024 - Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Curated by Hettie Judah, Hayward Gallery Touring, Arnolfini, Bristol 2023 - Re-Naissance, Curated by Hettie Judah, Unit London, Voices digital online platform 2023 - Rites of Passage, Curated by Péjú Oshin, Gagosian, Britannia Street Gallery, London 2023 - Precarious, Curated by Jess Twyman, Art Exchange, University of Essex 2022 - Love, Celebration and the Road Ahead, TJ Boulting, London 2022 - Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021, South London Gallery, London 2021 - Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2021, Firstsite, Essex 2020 - Policy Making: The Agency of Visible Women, Beecroft Art Gallery, Essex 2019 - Super Black, Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme exhibition, Firstsite, Essex 2019 - Time Portals, Curated by Ruth Catlow, Furtherfield Gallery, London 2018 - The Agency of Visible Women, Beecroft Art Gallery, Essex Screenings 2026 - An Afro Future Narrative for Essex (2022), New Contemporaries at The Old Waterworks, Essex 2024 - Lies, Myths and Truths (2006), Liberation in Four Movements, The Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2024 - Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar (2023), The Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2023 - Othered in a region that has been historically Othered (2022), G.A.S. Yinka Shonibare Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria 2023 - Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019), Belongings: Windrush 75, Tilbury Cruise Terminal, Essex 2023 - Lies, Myths and Truths (2006), Re-Naissance, Unit London, part of London Gallery Weekend, London 2023 - A Jab Jab Awakening Towards a New Essex (2022), Sounding Images, Birkbeck Cinema (BIMI), London 2023 - An Afrofuture Narrative for Essex (2022), Sounding Images, Birkbeck Cinema (BIMI), London 2023 - The Journey (2022), Sounding Images, Birkbeck Cinema (BIMI), London 2022 - Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019), Floor Five Collective, Goldsmiths CCA, London 2022 - Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019), Big Screen Southend, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2022 - Forgotten Black Essex films (2018), Big Screen Southend, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2021 - Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019), Firstsite, Online 2020 - Forgotten Black Essex films (2018), part of the Essex Girls exhibition, Beecroft Art Gallery, Essex 2020 - Forgotten Black Essex: Princess Dinubolu (2018), One Southend BHM Event, Online 2020 - Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019), IWD event, Beecroft Art Gallery, Essex 2019 - Love in Social Practice (2019), Going Places Festival, Cubitt and All Change, London 2018 - Forgotten Black Essex (2018), Big Screen Southend, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2018 - Goat Curry & Rap (2010), The Agency of Visible Women, Beecroft Art Gallery, Essex Residencies 2023 - Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.), one-month residency, Yinka Shonibare Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria 2022 - Elsa James at Essex, five-month research residency, Art Exchange, University of Essex, Essex 2020 - Remote Residency, selected artist for month-long residency focusing on new research, Metal Southend, Essex 2019 - Black Girl Essex: four-month residency exploring the black British voice in Essex, Firstsite, Essex 2017 - E+E: five-month Time and Space residency with Everton Wright, Metal Culture, Essex Grants, Awards and Nominations 2025 - Elsa James: It Should Not Be Forgotten, Project Grant, Arts Council England 2024 - Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (Nominated), UK 2024 - Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship, Royal College of Art, UK 2024 - Honorary Doctorate, University of Essex, UK 2024 - Film London Jarman Award (Nominated), UK 2023 - Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (Nominated), UK 2023 - Elsa James: A New Chapter, Developing Your Creative Practice, Arts Council England 2023 - Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award, UK 2023 - Firstsite Collectors' Group Bursary Award, UK 2022 - Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (Nominated), UK 2022 - Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, Project Grant, Arts Council England 2021 - Freelands Award (Finalist), UK 2021 - Bloomberg New Contemporaries, UK 2021 - THIS IS ESSEX, Project Grant, Arts Council England 2020 - Emergency Response Award, Arts Council England 2019 - Black Girl Essex, Project Grant, Arts Council England 2018 - Forgotten Black Essex, Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England Collections 2022 - Beecroft Art Gallery, UK 2021 - Private Collection of Melanie Keen, UK 2021 - Government Art Collection, UK 2021 - Private Collector, UK Selected Commissions 2024 - In response to the Atlantic Worlds gallery, National Maritime Museum, London 2023 - In response to the London Sugar and Slavery gallery, Museum of London Docklands, London 2023 - In response to the theme 'Flourish', Tate Britain, London 2022 - A Place With A Heart: A Place To Grow, Vinyl Artwork, Mayesbrook Children's Centre (Create London) 2022 - A Place With A Heart: A Place To Grow, Permanent Artwork, The White House (Create London) 2021 - We Stand With You, Black Lives Matter limited-edition print, Firstsite, Essex 2021 - A Place With A Heart: A Place To Grow, Procession, The White House (Create London) 2020 - New Town Culture Programme, Exploring local histories with foster families, The White House (Create London) 2020 - In Other Words, Book publication, Contributing artist, Metal and the Live Art Development Agency 2020 - We Stand With You, Black Lives Matter poster download, Firstsite, Essex 2020 - Generation Rebellion R&D, Co-lead Artist, Intergenerational project, Magic Me, London 2019 - Circle of Blackness, Exploring a past and future black woman narrative, Furtherfield, London 2019 - Love in Social Practice, Artist film, Cubitt, London Reviews and Publications 2026 - How to Enter the Art World, by Hettie Judah 2026 - Matrescence and Performance: Becoming/Unbecoming, by Laura Biscel 2025 - Emergent Currents: Roundtables with Bolanle Contemporary, Freize Magazine, October issue No. 254, in print and online 2025 - The Wick, 'Ones to Watch' Artist Spotlight, online 2025 - Artist launches British slavery exhibition, by Josh Holmes-Bright, BBC News, online 2025 - Rethinking history in my hometown, by Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper, May edition, in print and online 2024 - Liberation in Four Movements, Exhibition Brochure by Ingrid Jones 2024 - Radical reboot of Black presence in art explored in three London shows, by Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper, online 2023 - Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar, by Harry Conway, The Reviews Hub, London 2023 - An Ode to Black Essex Girls, by Storm Thompson, gal-dem online magazine 2023 - An artist's ode to David Lammy MP, Haringey Community Press 2023 - Blue plaque for Princess Dinubolu unveiled in Southend, BBC News online 2023 - Blue plaque unveiled at St Mary’s church in memory of West Indian slave Hester Woodley, Your Harlow, online 2023 - Black Blossoms is curating a one-night-only art event at Tate Britain, Dazed & Confused, online 2023 - Rites of Passage, curated by Péjú Oshin, to open at Gagosian Britannia Gallery, FAD Magazine, online 2023 - Rites of Passage review: stilt-walkers and slave ship ghosts brave the Atlantic, by Adrian Searle, The Guardian, online 2023 - Making Essex Proud, Essex Life magazine, March issue in print and online 2023 - Artistic Precariousness, Precarious exhibition essay by Dr Matthew Bowman, Art Exchange, University of Essex 2022 - The Essex Life 50 Most Influential People List, Essex Life magazine, November online 2022 - Beecroft Art Gallery acquisition of The Black Essex Flag (2019), cited on pp. 80, Art Quarterly winter issue, in print 2022 - Settlers: Journeys Through the Food, Faith & Culture of Black African London, Jimi Famurewa, pp.256-7, 258, 260-1, 262, 270 2022 - Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, exhibition review by Matthew Bowman, Art Monthly, issue 459 2022 - Words for Essex poem in Southend’s Twilight Worlds, edited by Elliot Gibbons, ISBN: 978-1-9998994-5-5 2022 - Re-imagining Essex July 2022 Diary by Jonathan Evens, Artlyst online 2022 - Chelsea graduate's new exhibition explores what it means to be black in Essex, Eleanor Harvey, UAL, online 2022 - What it means to be Black Girl Essex by Hettie Judah, The i Paper, in print and online 2022 - Catch Elsa James’ first solo exhibition, The Voice Newspaper, online 2022 - Elsa’s Essex, Essex Life magazine, June issue in print and online 2022 - Southend artist Elsa James’ new exhibition explores "what it means to be black in Essex", The Echo (Southend) newspaper 2021 - Artists take to the Arctic and Essex in £100,000 prize bid, Art Review, online 2021 - Intersections in the Art of Elsa James, by Dr Jon Blackwood, published by Firstsite and Metal, ISBN: 978-0-948252-47-1 2021 - Reclaiming Essex: Michael Landy RA and Elsa James, Feature article, Art Quarterly summer issue, in print and online 2020 - Essex Girls: For Profane and Opinionated Women Everywhere, book by Sarah Perry, cited on pp. 8 2020 - Art by the Water feature by Rick Jordan, Condé Nast Traveller magazine in print and online 2020 - How a Black slave brought to Harlow left behind a legacy remembered for centuries, Essex Live Online 2020 - The Black princess who took on a white Southend community and caused a national uproar, Essex Live Online 2020 - Black Girl Essex editorial featured by Nicky Adams, Essex Life magazine in print and online 2020 - Scarlet Lipstick and Theology, quoted in Sarah Perry’s essay, Guardian Review in print and online 2020 - Place 2020, contributing writer, Centre for Place Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University online 2020 - The Great Women Artists Podcast, Chloe Austin talks with Katy Hessel, Episode 29 online 2020 - The Black British Artists Challenging Super White Britain by Chloe Austin, Black Ballad online 2019 - Super Black exhibition review by Matthew Bowman, Art Monthly, issue No. 432 Dec- Jan 2019 - Coming Out as a Black Essex Girl, contributing feature article, Trawler X EGLF newspaper publication 2019 - The black princess who ‘took on a white world by Laurence Cawley, BBC News online 2019 - I want to challenge people’s perceptions by Darryl Webber, Essex Chronicle newspaper 2019 - Elsa James shows just what an Essex Girl looks like, by Neil D’arcy, Colchester Gazette newspaper 2019 - The black artist taking on the ‘Essex Girl’ stereotype, by Dawn Gerber, BBC News online 2019 - Exhibition to celebrate the park’s 150th anniversary, Enfield Independent newspaper 2019 - The Invention of Essex, cited by Tim Burrows, Long read Guardian newspaper 2019 - New Ways of Seeing, Making & Telling, Commissioned contribution, a-n The Artist Information Company, in print + online 2018 - Essex black history film closes, by Kelly Ann Buckley, The Echo (Southend) newspaper 2018 - Forgotten Black Essex, cited on pp. 27 -28 by Tim Burrows, Radical Essex book publication by Focal Point Gallery 2018 - Artist responds to forgotten black Essex, by Kelly Ann Buckley, The Echo (Southend) newspaper Public Talks and Interviews 2026 - Guest Lecture for Black History Month, Southend City College, Essex 2025 - Empire Lines Special Podcast recorded with a live audience at Firstite, Essex 2025 - In conversation with Paul Lashmar, author of Drax of Drax Hall, The Old Waterworks, Essex 2025 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Akylah Rodriguez show: 09/05/25, BBC Essex, Essex 2025 - In conversation with Hettie Judah, live from Firstsite, online 2025 - TV News Feature on BBC Look East: 20/06/25, BBC, Essex 2025 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Angelle Joseph show: 09/05/25, BBC Essex, Essex 2025 - Podcast interview with Jen Offord for Standard Issue Podcast 2024 - Presentation and round table discussion with Eddie Peake, Harold Offeh and Liselle Terret, The Cut, Suffolk 2023 - In Conversation with Jean François Manicon, The Transatlantic Slavery & Legacies in Museums Forum, online 2023 - In Conversation with artist Harold Offeh, chaired by Louisa Buck, Firstsite, Colchester 2023 - Empire Lines podcast x Museum of London Docklands, episode no.90 2023 - Decoding Turner, Sky Arts, for broadcast 06/09/23 with Turner expert, former nano-scientist Nick Wilkinson 2023 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Dotun Adebayo show: 13/08/23, BBC Radio London 2023 - Un-Becoming, an in-person panel discussion with Hettie Judah, Unit London, part of London Gallery Weekend 2023 - Panel Talk with Trevor Mathison and Beverley Bennett, chaired by Karen Alexander, Sounding Images, Birkbeck Cinema 2023 - Live Radio Broadcast, Matthew Sweet Free Thinking: 18/05/23 with Tim Burrows, Dan Taylor & Simon Heffer, BBC Radio 3 2023 - Matador Network X Visit Britain, Essex broadcast with US travel influencer Alexa Moore 2023 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Rob Jelly evening show: 15/03/23, BBC Essex, Essex 2023 - Artists' Talk Precarious exhibition, chaired by Dr Matthew Bowman, Art Exchange, University of Essex 2022 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Dave Monk show: 30/12/22, BBC Essex, Essex 2022 - Re-entering the Artworld, discussion chaired by Hettie Judah, TJ Boulting, London 2022 - Live Radio Broadcast on Woman's Hour with Anita Rani: 15/07/22, BBC Radio 4, London 2022 - Guided walk and talk with Syd Moore, Focal Point Gallery and Essex Book Festival, Essex 2022 - Interview with Ekow Eshun, Focal Point Gallery, Exhibition booklet and published online 2022 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Sadie Nine show: 27/06/22, BBC Essex, Essex 2022 - Emotional Labour of Social Practice Artists, Speaker, Social Art Network, Online 2021 - BEING OTHERED IN A REGION THAT HAS BEEN HISTORICALLY OTHERED, CAMP, Online 2021 - Intersections in the Art of Elsa James, book launch and talk, Estuary Festival, Online 2021 - Working Class British Art Network, Discussion with Sean Edwards and Aidan Moesby, British Art Network, Online 2021 - In Conversation with Sepake Angiama (Artistic Dir, Iniva) and Jon Blackwood (Writer & Curator), Firstsite, Online 2021 - Artist talk with Q&A, British Libraries Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women's Rights, Suffolk Libraries, Online 2020 - Artist talk, POC in the Industry, Blackground Black History Month event, University of the Arts London, Online 2020 - In Conversation with actor/writer Anne Odeke, Queens Theatre Hornchurch, YouTube Video 2020 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Ian Wyatt BBC Introducing show: 12/10/20, BBC Essex, Essex 2020 - Panellist with Marc Garrett, Cassie Thornton and Tomislav Medak, RadicalxChange Conference, New York, Online 2020 - In Conversation with artists R.M Sanchez-Camus and Sian Williams, Axisweb, Online 2020 - Artist discussion with Q&A, Quarantine Dialogues curated by Jon Blackwood and Maja Zeco, Online 2020 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Sonia Watson breakfast show: 08/06/20, BBC Essex, Essex 2020 - Artist Talk with Q&A, PEER Ambassadors programme, PEER Gallery, London 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Ben Fryer and Sonia Watson breakfast show: 22/11/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - Artist Talk with Q&A, Norwich University of the Arts, Norfolk 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Dave Monk Drive time show: 17/10/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - TV News Presentation Feature on BBC Look East: 16/10/19, BBC, Essex 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast, The Essex Girl stereotype panel debate with Emma Bullimore: 30/07/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - TV News Feature on BBC London: 24/07/19, BBC, London 2019 - TV News Feature on BBC Look East: 22/07/19, BBC, Essex 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Kath Melandri Saturday Breakfast: 29/06/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast on the Tony Fisher Show: 27/06/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - Live Radio Broadcast, Windrush Diversity Panel on the Jodie Halford Show: 19/06/19, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - No Frills Working Dinner Party, part show, part discussion with Scottee & Friends, The Albany, London 2019 - The Guilty Feminist Live Tour panel chat with Deborah Frances-White, Cliffs Pavilion, Essex 2019 - Artist Talk with Q&A, Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen 2019 - Artist Talk with Q&A, School of Art and Digital Industries, University of East London, London 2018 - Forgotten Black Essex, Presentation with Q&A for BHM18, The Sixth Form College, Essex 2018 - Who am I? Identity and Belonging, panel discussion with Q&A, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2018 - The Archive & Historical Geographies of The Black Presence, Talk, panel discussion with Q&A, Autograph, London 2018 - Radio interview for Peter Holmes Sunday Breakfast: 18/02/18, BBC Essex, Essex 2018 - Babble Arts Chat, Internet Radio interview on Forgotten Black Essex, Essex Selected Appointments 2026 - Artist Workshop, Artist Development Programme, New Contemporaries at The Old Waterworks, Essex 2026 - Official Judge Masquerade Bands, Notting Hill Carnival, London 2026 - Trustee, Firstsite, Essex 2025 - Official Judge, Masquerade Bands, Notting Hill Carnival, London 2025 - Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Chelsea School of Arts, London 2024 - Official Judge, Masquerade Bands, Notting Hill Carnival, London 2023 - Artist Advisor, Open Advice Sessions for Global Majority Artists, Metal Southend 2023 - Critical Friend for the Havering London Bid to become the 2025 London Borough of Culture 2023 - Judge, Make A Difference Awards 2023, BBC Essex radio, Essex 2023 - Official Judge, Masquerade Bands, Notting Hill Carnival, London 2023 - Artist Mentor to George Morgan's DYCP programme, Essex 2023 - Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Chelsea School of Arts, London 2023 - Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art, University Centre Colchester, Essex 2023 - Visiting Lecturer, Graduate Diploma in Art, Goldsmiths, University of London 2022 - Visiting Lecturer, Graduate Diploma in Art, Goldsmiths, University of London 2021 - Lead Artist, Holiday Fun Summer programme, Firstsite, Essex 2021 - Devised activity, Discover Essex with Elsa James, Holiday Fun Half-term programme, Firstsite, Essex 2021 - Artist Mentor to George Morl for the Agency of Visible Womxn and The Old Waterworks residency, Online 2020 - Artist Selector, New moving image works for Big Screen Southend programme, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2019 - Panel Artist Judge, New Voices Auditions, BBC Essex, Essex 2019 - Lead Artist, Change the Conversation, Young Women's 4-day Art and Activism Project, Autograph ABP, London 2019 - Panel Selector, Social Art Network + Kickstarter PBC, Coaching Programme, London 2019 - Lead Artist, Social Art Assembly, Lab sharing and discussion, Tate Exchange, London 2018 - Artist Participant, No Shortlists experimental Joshua Sofaer workshop, Social Works? Axisweb, London Curation 2025 - It Should Not Be Forgotten, Solo exhibition, co-curated with Sally Shaw, Firstsite, Essex 2022 - Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, Solo exhibition, Focal Point Gallery, Essex 2021 - Walking in the Wake: Michael McMillan and Dubmorphology, Estuary 2021 Opening Weekend, Online 2021 - During the Hour of Darkness: James Jordon Johnson and Shamica Ruddock, Estuary 2021 Opening Weekend, Online 2021 - A Short History of Nearly Everything: Antonio Roberts, Estuary 2021 Opening Weekend, Online 2021 - Jeannette Ehlers, Fiona Compton & Aleema Gray, Panel discussion, Estuary 2021 Opening Weekend, Online 2019 - Super Black, Arts Council Collection National Partners Programme exhibition, Firstsite, Essex Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Browse Elsa James’ biography, CV, artists’ writings, essays, selected news, press and media coverage of her multidisciplinary art practice and an overview of her work. BIO CV PUBLICATIONS PRESS MEDIA Biography Close Elsa James is a British African-Caribbean visual artist based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Her research-based, multidisciplinary practice is grounded in Black liberation, speculative reimagining, and critical hope to question and disrupt the enduring structures, logics, and historical inequities of the British Empire. As a descendant of the Windrush generation, born to a Trinidadian mother and a father from the Grenadian island of Carriacou, she engages diasporic histories of migration, displacement, and belonging through her work. Her practice spans moving image (in which she performs), performance, text-based screenprint, large-scale neon, collage, and sound. Across these art forms, she constructs layered visual and sonic conversations, drawing on archival fragments, embodied and intuitive memory, and contemporary Black life, often collapsing personal and historical registers within a single work. "It is a practice that uses dramatic, understated confrontation as a means of uncovering the consequences of historical prejudice and exclusion, and the uncomfortable echoes of those past attitudes in our own time". — Dr Jon Blackwood (2021) Solo exhibitions and performances include Elsa James: It Should Not Be Forgotten , Firstsite, Colchester (2025); Gestures Towards Telling a New Narrative , National Maritime Museum, London (2024); Free to Flourish , Tate Britain, London (2023); Othered in a region that has been historically Othered , Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea (2022); and Elsa James: Black Girl Essex , Firstsite, Colchester (2019). Recent group exhibitions include How to Be in the Future? Chisenhale Art Place, London (2025); There are other skies, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, USA (2025); Liberation in Four Movements, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Canada (2024); Intension (the concept ‘dog’ encapsulates its ‘dogness’) , Copperfield, London (2024); Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Hayward Gallery Touring — Arnolfini, Bristol; Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham; Millennium Gallery, Sheffield; Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Dundee, Scotland; VISUAL, Carlow, Ireland (2024–26); and Rites of Passage , Gagosian, London (2023). Her work is held in private and public collections, including the UK Government Art Collection and Beecroft Art Gallery, where she became the first Black British artist to have work acquired for the gallery’s permanent collection. In 2024, James was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Essex in recognition of her contributions to contemporary art and cultural history in Essex, foregrounding the region’s overlooked Black presence and histories. She was a finalist for the Freelands Award in 2021 for her first major institutional solo exhibition, Othered in a region that has been historically Othered , at Focal Point Gallery, and received the Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award in 2023. In 2022, she was named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Essex. She is currently undertaking a part-time Master of Research (Practice-Based) at the Royal College of Art as a recipient of the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship (2024–27), and developing Afro Dada , an evolving artistic vocabulary for speculative reimagining that informs her studio practice and research. Photo: Big Skilly Media, National Maritime Museum, 2023 Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - PROJECTS - Eighty-Five Years, 2024 Eighty-Five Years, 2024 Digital video, sound 7:47 minutes Trigger Warning: This film contains sensitive content, including footage of a person experiencing the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as scenes depicting a funeral. Viewer discretion is advised, as these images and themes may be distressing or evoke strong emotions. Eighty-Five Years traces my mother’s life through a selection of archival images and sound inherited from an extensive personal collection, including legal documents, letters, family albums, and an analogue music recording from her family home of fifty-five years. The film also incorporates footage captured on a mobile phone during her final months. Presented as a visual and auditory montage, the work sketches her journey from Trinidad to Britain. It reflects on her hopes and aspirations as a twenty-four-year-old woman moving across continents, her devotion to my father, the racism she encountered in the workplace, and her role as the family matriarch. The film concludes with her experience of living with Alzheimer’s disease, before dissolving into the full ritual of her Caribbean-style funeral in west London. Made with support for the Royal College of Art <<< The Journey We Stand With You >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Afro Dada collages exploring fragmented histories, Caribbean lineage, and Britain’s colonial amnesia, created live at Firstsite in 2025. WORKS - COLLAGES - Osun-Osogbo, Windrush and Empire, 2025 Osun-Osogbo, Windrush and Empire, 2025 Ten hand-cut collages Indian ink and Xerox photocopies on watercolour paper 21 x 21 cm, each These works form part of the first iteration of Afro Dada and were created publicly during the solo exhibition It Should Not Be Forgotten, Firstsite, 2025, in a gallery space transformed into a working artist’s studio. Commissioned by Firstsite. Funded by Arts Council England, Firstsite, and Trevor Fenwick. With support from the Royal College of Art. Exhibition history: 2025 - Chisenhale Art Place, London, UK 2025 - Firstsite, Colchester. UK <<< Requiem for Empire Aristocratic Woman, Monkey, Mask and Orka >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Connect with Elsa James to discuss commissions, exhibitions, talks and studio visits. Sign up for updates, research insights and new projects. LET'S CONNECT If you would like to learn more about my work, discuss commissions, exhibitions, talks, or arrange a studio visit, I’d be delighted to hear from you. You can also sign up for news and updates, and follow me on Instagram for works in progress, research insights, upcoming announcements, and occasional glimpses of life beyond the studio. Studio The Old Waterworks North Road Southend-on-Sea SS0 7AD View on Google Maps First name* Last name* Email* Sign up for news and updates Subject Message Submit Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - SOUND - Redemptive Blue, 2022 Redemptive Blue, 2022 Audio 10:36 minutes Redemptive Blue is a contemplative sound work accompanying the moving-image work Contemporary Echoes of the Subjugation of the Women of Essex . Moving through emotional and historical registers, the piece weaves layered tonal shifts and subtle sonic textures, drawing on the musical traditions of Soul, Gospel, and Classical Opera. Redemptive Blue invites listeners into an immersive encounter shaped by lyrics drawn from the lived experiences of African asylum seekers and refugees living in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Serving as both atmosphere and reflection, the piece creates space for compassion, remembrance, and the possibility of change. Listen on Soundcloud here Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery as part of the solo exhibition Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, 2022. Funded by Arts Council England, Focal Point Gallery and Southend-on-Sea City Council. Credits: Written and composed by Paul Gladstone-Reid MBE with Elsa James from focus groups she held with asylum seekers and refugees in Southend-on-Sea . Film stills: Andy Delaney <<< The Black Interior Audio Edit Jab Jab Essex >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Explore press coverage of Elsa James, featuring interviews, reviews, and articles from leading contemporary art and national media outlets, including Frieze, The Art Newspaper, BBC News, Art Monthly, and more. BIO CV PUBLICATIONS PRESS MEDIA Menu Close Selected News and Press FRIEZE Elsa James' debut live durational performance at Tate Britain is featured in the Emergent Roundtable conversation by Bolanle Tajudeen. In print, issue No 254, and online. October 2025 THE WICK Ones to Watch Artist Spotlight: Elsa James is featured in the weekly artist-focused section, championed by Sally Shaw MBE, director at Firstsite . June 2025 BBC NEWS Artist launches British slavery exhibition: A renowned Essex-based artist is looking to reflect on three centuries of Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade through her new exhibition. June 2025 BBC LIVE BROADCAST Live broadcast interview for the BBC evening news, discussing aspects of the solo exhibition, It Should Not Be Forgotten, at Firstsite. June 2025 THE ART NEWSPAPER Louisa Buck's Review: Elsa James’s exhibition in my home county, Essex, is a potent rejection of the erasure of history. In Print and online. May 2025 STANDARD ISSUE PODCAST Elsa James’s new exhibition, It Should Not Be Forgotten, explores themes of chattel enslavement and its impact on contemporary Black British life. Jen chats to Elsa about the exhibition’s themes, sharing history, and facing its discomfort. April 2025 HONORARY DOCTORATE Conceptual artist and prominent activist Elsa James has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Essex for her tireless work in redefining the term, Essex Girl. June 2024 THE GUARDIAN Adrian Searle's review of Rites of Passage at Gagosian: "The neon, by Southend-based artist Elsa James , hangs over the entrance to Rites of Passage... Lammy’s quotation is succinct, direct and so freighted". April 2023 GAGOSIAN Welcoming viewers to the gallery is Elsa James’s Ode to David Lammy MP (2022). The work’s black neon text reads I AM HERE BECAUSE YOU WERE THERE...April 2003 FAD MAGAZINE Gagosian is pleased to present Rites of Passage at the Britannia Street gallery. Curated by Péjú Oshin, this exhibition features work by eighteen contemporary artists who share a history of migration. May 2023 GAL-DEM Interview: An Ode to Black Essex Girls: In conversation with her daughter Storm, artist Elsa James shares her approach to story (re)telling that centres black women, gal-dem online magazine. May 2023 ESSEX LIFE MAGAZINE Inspational Women: Making Essex Proud to mark International Women's Day. March 2023 ART MONTHLY Matthew Bowman's review of Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, at Focal Point Gallery. Issue no. 459. September 2022 RADIO 4 WOMEN'S HOUR Live studio interview with Anita Rani: The artist and feminist activist Elsa James explores her identity as a black woman living in Essex for the last 20 years. July 2022 ARTLYST Re-imagining Essex: The image of Essex is currently being questioned, challenged and re-framed by artists and exhibitions in and from Essex. July 2022 THE I NEWSPAPER Hettie Judah's Review: The new exhibition by the artist, and member of the Essex Girl Liberation Front. She talks black history, the Jab Jab dance and claiming the mantra ‘Black Girl Essex’. In print and online. June 2022 EKOW ESHUN INTERVIEW An interview between Ekow Eshun and Elsa James took place on 31 May 2022 in relation to her solo exhibition at Focal Point Gallery, Othered in a region that has been historically Othered. June 2022 FREELANDS AWARD NOMINATION Shortlisted by the Freelands Foundation for the Freelands Art Award 2021 for the forthcoming solo exhibition ‘Othered in a region that has been historically Othered’ September 2021 ART QUARTERLY Reclaiming Essex. More than 30 years after the cultural stereotypes of ‘Essex Man’ and ’Essex Girl’ were coined, artists Michael Landy and Elsa James meet in Southend to discuss what the terms mean to them. Interview by Helen Sumpter for the Summer issue. June 2021 THE GREAT WOMEN ARTISTS For episode 29 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, curator Chloe Austin talks to Katy Hessel about Black Girl Essex: Here We Come, Look We Here (2019)and Love in Social Practice(2019), June 2020 BLACK BALLAD Chloe Austin's Reveiw: The Black British Artists Challenging Super White Britain: 'Super Black' is an important exhibition speaks to the experience of being black outside of London, and prompts a conversation that is often avoided outside of the capital. January 2020 BBC NEWS The black princess who 'took on a white world': Elsa James, an artist in Southend, featured the princess in her recent Forgotten Black Essex exhibition. November 2019 BBC STUDIO GUEST Invited studio guest for the BBC evening news to mark Black History Month, October 2019 Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - NEONS - Declaration I: Because We Have Been Troubled..., 2025 Declaration I: Because We Have Been Troubled..., 2025 Ruby-red neon Letter height: 30 cm, install dimensions: 1050 cm Edition of 2 Commissioned by Firstsite as part of the solo exhibition It Should Not Be Forgotten , 2025. Funded by Arts Council England, Firstsite and Trevor Fenwick. With support from the Royal College of Art. Credits: Fabricator: Neon Circus; Photo: Richard Ivey Exhibition history: 2025 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK <<< Beyond the Hold Declaration II: And Still, We Rise >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Limited edition screenprints available for purchase, documenting anonymised racist microaggressions shared by four Black men reflecting on everyday experiences of growing up in or living in Essex, England. The works record lived encounters of racial bias and subtle violence, translating spoken testimony into visual form as a way of archiving, exposing, and critically reflecting on contemporary Black British life and its social realities. AVAILABLE EDITIONS Work No. 27: Hair Texture, 2022 Silkscreen print on Plike Black 330gsm 68 x 68 cm (unframed) Edition 1 of 1 plus 1 Exhibition copy Signed, dated, and numbered on the back Documentation of racist microaggressions, shared anonymously by four Black men reflecting on their everyday experiences of growing up in, or currently living in, Essex, England. Part of The Black Interior works here Credits: Typographics: Proof; Screenprint: K2Screens; Photographed by Anna Lukula ENQUIRE HERE Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - MOVING IMAGES - A Jab Jab Awakening Towards A New Essex, 2022 A Jab Jab Awakening Towards A New Essex C hapter two of the three-part film: Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, 2022 4K digital video, stereo sound 5:38 minutes (2:01-minute excerpt below) Edition of 3 and 1 AP Filmed in Dedham Vale, Essex Chapter two departs from Old Knobbley to Dedham Vale—also known as Constable Country—where John Constable painted his canonical landscapes, extending the work across temporal and geographic registers. It centres on Jab Jab, a carnival masquerade tradition from Grenada, in which bodies coated in shiny black pigment move with trance-like intensity. Emerging from the post-emancipation era, Jab represents resistance, freedom, and Black liberation. Performers invoke a visual language of inversion and refusal, mobilising carnivalesque forms to satirise the colonial enslaver and restage scenes of enslavement on their own terms. The chapter serves both as an offering to Essex and as a critical pivot, orienting the viewer toward the radical horizon articulated in chapter three. Explore the accompanying audio here . Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery as part of the solo exhibition titled Othered in a region that has been historically Othered , 2022. Funded by Arts Council England, Focal Point Gallery and Southend-on-Sea City Council. With support from Art Exchange at the University of Essex. Chapter two credits: Conceived, written and produced by Elsa James. Performance: Elsa James; Filmed, directed and edited: Andy Delaney; Colourist: Adrian Seery; Sound composer and designer: Trevor Mathison; Field Recordist and Camera Assistant: Graham Tobias; Drone Operator: Struan Wallace; Titles: Rich With; Production Assistance: Sue Withers. Make-up: Storm Thompson; Drums: Ken Lawrence; Conch Shell: Niles Hailstones; Grenada and Jab Jab Consultants: Lisa Williams and Dr John Angus Martin. All film stills: Andy Delaney. Screening history: 2023 - G.A.S. Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria 2023 - Birkbeck Cinema (BIMI), London 2022 - Focal Point Gallery, Southend, Essex, UK <<< Contemporary Echoes of the Subjugation of the Women of Essex An Afro Future Narrative for Essex >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - SELECTED SCREENPRINTS - The Rebels of Breadnut Island Pen, 2025 Phibbah: Friday 17th September, 1770. Phibbah: Saturday 23rd April, 1774. Molia: Monday 21st April 1760. Molia: Tuesday 23rd August, 1763. Molia: Sunday 8th February, 1767. Phibbah: Friday 1st May, 1772. Molia: Friday 1st May, 1772. Phibbah: Sunday 25th July, 1779. The Rebels of Breadnut Island Pen, 2025 Eight screenprints on aluminium, red raffia 100 x 100 cm, each, (raffia approx: 120 cm) Edition of 3 These eight screenprints respond to The Thomas Thistlewood Papers, held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Thistlewood (1721–1786), born in Lincolnshire, England, was a notorious enslaver, planter, diarist, and serial rapist. In 1750, he migrated to Jamaica—Britain’s wealthiest colony at the height of the transatlantic slave trade—initially working as an overseer on several plantations before purchasing Breadnut Island Pen. Thistlewood kept extensive diaries spanning over 14,000 pages, meticulously documenting the atrocities he committed against the people he enslaved. His journals reveal the appalling conditions they endured, marked by relentless sexual violence and a brutal system of discipline. As an act of dehumanisation, he branded each enslaved person with his initials, 'TT,' searing them into their right shoulders. Among his victims were Phibbah and Molia. Jamaican-born Phibbah worked as a domestic servant, overseeing the upkeep of his plantation house. Thistlewood referred to her as his long-term concubine, and she bore his only son. In contrast, Molia arrived at Breadnut Island Pen as a fifteen-year-old girl of Igbo origin, having survived the harrowing Middle Passage from West Africa. After purchasing and branding Molia, Thistlewood renamed her Coobah and forced her into field labour until he eventually sold her. Explore the accompanying audio here . Commissioned by Firstsite as part of the solo exhibition It Should Not Be Forgotten, 2025. Funded by Arts Council England, Firstsite and Trevor Fenwick. With support from the Royal College of Art. Credit: Screenprint by K2 Screens, Photographed by Andrew Moller Exhibition history: 2025 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK <<< Black Radicals The Black Interior >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

A 27-minute durational performance at Tate Britain exploring freedom and flourishing through vocal endurance, audience participation, and urgent global issues. WORKS - DURATIONAL PERFORMANCES - Free to Flourish, 2023 Free to Flourish, 2023 Durational Performance 27:00 minutes Performed in Gallery G15, Tate Britain, London, which is dedicated to displaying British Art from 1760–1830 In response to the theme Flourish , this durational performance centres the repeated question: “How can we be free to flourish?” Voiced through shifting vocal registers and embodied gestures, the question is pushed to the point of physical and vocal exhaustion, marking the work’s conclusion. Throughout the performance, the audience was invited to call out urgent global concerns, written on paper and scattered across the gallery floor. They included: Ableism, Ageism, Antisemitism, Child Labour, Child Marriage, Climate Crisis, COVID-19, Fake News, Fatphobia, Gender Inequality, Hate Crime, Homophobia, Human Rights, Hunger, Islamophobia, Mental Health, Misogyny, Misogynoir, Poverty, Racism, Social Media Stress, The Metaverse, Trafficking, Transphobia, War, and Water Contamination. Commissioned by Black Blossoms for a Late at Tate event. Inspired by a keynote speech by Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries Credits: With special thanks to Bolanle Tajudeen, Ese Onojeruo, Tram Nguyen, Husna Memon, Jasmine Pierre, and the Tate's Youth Advocates and Tate Collective Producers. All images: Eugenio Falcioni, Tate Gallery. <<< Gestures Towards telling A New Narrative Beyond the Hold >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.