Elsa James is a Black British multidisciplinary artist based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Her research-led practice explores Black liberation, speculative reimagining and critical hope. As a Windrush descendant, she engages diasporic histories of migration, displacement and belonging. Working across moving image, performance, text, neon, collage and sound, her work weaves archival fragments, embodied memory and contemporary Black life into layered contemporary art. E L S A J A M E S v i s u a l a r t i s t Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - MOVING IMAGES - Black Girl Essex, Here We Come, Look We Here, 2019 Black Girl Essex, Here We Come, Look We Here, 2019 HD digital video, sound 13:41 minutes ( 1:09-minute excerpt below) Edition of 3 and 1 AP Filmed at the Port of Tilbury, Essex. This film marked the culmination of a six-month residency at Firstsite. Its narration was shaped through focus groups with members of Essex’s Black community, foregrounding collective voice, testimony, and the diasporic experience of living outside of London. Set against the backdrop of Tilbury Docks—the landing site of the Empire Windrush in 1948—the work reflects on Black presence and belonging within Essex’s historical and cultural landscape. Commissioned by Firstsite. Funded through Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants. Credits: Conceived, written, and produced by Elsa James from focus groups she held with members of the Black communities in Essex. Directed, photographed and edited by Andy Delaney. Performance by Elsa James. Narrative edited by Elsa James. With Graham Tobias, Camera Assistant and Gaffer; Mak Gilchrist, Director's Assistant; Storm Thompson, Assistant to Elsa James; Louis Gaston, Sound Engineer; Adrian Seery, Colourist; Ed Hall, New Essex Flag for the film; Symone Williams, Carnival Costume Designer; and Ian Matthews, Music Consultant. All film stills: Andy Delaney. Screening history: 2023 - Tilbury Cruise Terminal, Essex, UK 2022 - Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK 2022 - Focal Point Gallery, Essex, UK 2022 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK 2021 - South London Gallery, London, UK 2019 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK <<< An Afro Future Narrative for Essex Forgotten Black Essex, Hester and Hester Woodley >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - SELECTED SCREENPRINTS - The Black Interior, 2022 The Black Interior, 2022 Fifteen screenprints on paper 68 x 68 cm Edition of 1 and 1 Exhibition Copy, each These prints which form part of The Blackness Series take their title from The Black Interior (2004), a collection of essays by poet Elizabeth Alexander. The prints document fifteen accounts of racist microaggressions, shared anonymously by four Black men reflecting on their everyday experiences of growing up in, or currently living in, Essex, England. Explore the accompanying audio 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: Typographics: Proof; Screenprint: K2 Screen; Photographed by Anna Lukula Exhibition history: 2023 - Art Exchange, Colchester, UK 2022 - Focal Point Gallery, Southend, UK <<< The Rebels of Breadnut Island Pen The Blackness Prints >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - SOUND - Jab Jab Essex, 2022 Jab Jab Essex. 2022 Audio 8:11 minutes This dense, rhythmic sound work, created to accompany A Jab Jab Awakening Towards a New Essex , engages the body as a site of resistance, inversion, and refusal. Built from layered sounds of the conch shell and drum, the composition draws on the ritual and carnivalesque traditions of Jab Jab, where performance becomes a strategy for confronting historical violence. Its hypnotic intensity evokes the alternative future Essex imagined in Chapter Three, where collective recovery is realised through a transformative Caribbean ritual. 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: Conceived by Elsa James with D rums performed by Ken Lawrence and Conch Shell by Niles Hailstones. Designed and shaped by Trevor Mathison; Film stills: Andy Delaney <<< Redemptive Blue What Would Essex Look Like? >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKS - NEONS Declaration I: Because We Have Been Troubled..., 2025 Declaration II: And Still, We Rise, 2025 Requiem for Empire, 2022 <<< Collages SCREENPRINTS >>> 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. 4: Hey, We're Over Here! 2021 Silkscreen print on Plike black 330gsm 68 x 68 cm (unframed) Edition 3 of 3 plus 1 AP Signed, dated, and numbered on the back Part of The Blackness Prints Credits: Typographics: Fraser Muggeridge; Screenprint: The Printing Press; Photographed by Anna Lukula ENQUIRE HERE Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Explore the Moving Image works of artist Elsa James WORKS - MOVING IMAGES Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar, 2023 Contemporary Echoes of the Subjugation of the Women of Essex, 2022 A Jab Jab Awakening Towards A New Essex, 2022 An Afro Future Narrative for Essex, 2022 Black Girl Essex, Here We Come, Look We Here, 2019 Forgotten Black Essex, Hester and Hester Woodley, 2018 Forgotten Black Essex, Princess Dinubolu, 2018 Goat Curry and Rap, 2010 150 Lies Myths and Truths, 2006 Durational performances >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

WORKs - MOVING IMAGES - 150 Lies Myths and Truths, 2006 150 Lies Myths and Truths, 2006 MiniDV camcorder to digital video, no sound 18:01 minutes (2:59-minute excerpt below) Edition of 3 and 1 AP A film made in response to a pregnancy scan confirming I was having another girl, and thinking about the multitude of terms that exist in the world, both historical and contemporary, for Black women and girls. Screening history: 2025 - VISUAL Carlow, Ireland 2025 - Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, UK 2024 - Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, UK 2024 - Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, UK 2024 - Arnolfini, Bristol, UK 2023 - Unit London, London, UK 2019 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK 2007 - Triangle Space, London, UK 2006 - Havering College, London, UK <<< Goat Curry and Rap Gestures Towards Telling A New Narrative >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

The Blackness Series is an ongoing series of numbered text works by Elsa James, begun in 2016 and continuing today, documenting historical and contemporary Black lived experience alongside critical social commentary. Rendered in black type on a black background, the works are deliberately difficult to read, exploring tensions of hypervisibility and invisibility. The text becomes legible only as light shifts across its surface, on screen or in physical space. ​ WORKS - SELECTED SCREENPRINTS - The Blackness Prints, 2021 Work No. 4: Hey, We're Over Here! Work No. 7: Policy Note to Essex Work No. 5: Untitled The Blackness Prints, 2021 Three screenprints on paper 68 x 68 cm Edition of 3 and 1 AP, each This collection of works constitutes the first iteration of screenprints from The Blackness Series . Collections: Government Art Collection Collection of Melanie Keen Credits: Typographics: Fraser Muggeridge; Screenprint: The Printing Press; Photographed by Anna Lukula <<< The Black Interior The Mary Prince Narrative Part I >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Filmed at London Museum Docklands, this work by Elsa James re-examines narratives of slavery, heritage and identity through a contemporary artistic lens. WORKS - MOVING IMAGES - Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar, 2023 Living in the Wake of the Lust for Sugar, 2023 4K digital video, stereo sound 7:53 minutes (2:27-minute excerpt below) Filmed in the London Sugar and Slavery Gallery, London Museum Docklands, London "The aim was to re-examine the existing narrative of the gallery, which was created in 2007, by expanding its interpretation with an artistic perspective connected to the audience that the gallery represents. For an institution like ours, the accuracy of her [James] vision, the finesse of her thinking, are precious tools to offer a new narrative on heritage and identity ." — Jean-François Manicom, Senior Curator (Docklands History and Legacies) Commissioned by the London Museum Docklands Credits: Written, performed and narrated by Elsa James; Co-directed by Andy Delaney and Elsa James; Co-edited by Andy Delaney and Elsa James; Sound designed by Greg Birkumshaw; Lighting by Struan Wallace; Narration recorded by Graham Tobias; Camera assistant: Graham Tobias; Set assistant: Storm Thompson; Makeup: Storm Thompson and Costume: Elsa James. All film stills: Andy Delaney. Screening history: 2024 - Art Museum, University of Toronto, CA 2023 - London Museum Docklands, London, UK Contemporary Echoes of the Subjugation of the Women of Essex >>> 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 - SELECTED COLLAGES Aristocratic Woman, Monkey, Mask and Orka, 2025 Aristocratic Woman, Monkey, Mask and Orka , 2025 Four hand-cut collages Xerox photocopies and paint on cartridge paper 42 cm x 59.4 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 - Firstsite, Colchester. UK <<< Osun-Osogbo, Windrush and Empire Black Radicals >>> Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.

AVAILABLE EDITIONS Work No. 25: Living Here, 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.