United Kingdom
I am an experienced artist, curator, project manager and educator with a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. Since my undergraduate degree in History of Art at Leeds in the 1990s I have been following developments in everyday technologies and observing how we understand and express ourselves as individuals, as part of a community and globally. My PhD, titled 'Is My Body Out of Date? The Drag of Physicality in the Digital Age' (2025) explored the relationship of data (discharge) to the bodies that generate it, highlighting the biases upon which so much of our contemporary digital landscape is constructed. As an artist I have had the privilege to talk, work and collaborate with a broad spectrum of people and groups over the years - from my former neighbours in London (The Broadway House Photo Project, 2002-3) to internationally dispersed drag performers (#Sergina, 2009-25); from small business owners in Birmingham (FRAME_birmingham, 2012-13) to fellow researchers interested in finding ways to highlight climate justice in research methods (CHASE Climate Justice Network, 2019-25). As an educator I have taught at BA and MA level in the UK and overseas in the subjects of Art & Ecology, Photography, Theatre, Writing and Performance and Music. I teach regularly at Central Saint Martins, Goldsmiths and at BIMM London and for 3 years set up and ran an independent art school, Art School Berlin, with Julia Bell. I am a natural collaborator and leader. Ideas come quick and I have often been told that I see things that others don't. Having finished the PhD I am seeking new collaborations and projects to which I can bring my expertise of technology and people, art and wellbeing for the benefit of all.
Since the mid 1990s I have been witnessing and responding to the development of everyday tech and its impact on society, on a personal, local and international level. I respond through community engaged projects, photography, video, music, curating, and [drag] performance. Over the past 25 years I have produced many projects that demand close interaction with very different sets of people: from my East London Council Estate neighbours (The Broadway House Photo Project, 2002-3) to fellow passengers on the Trans Siberian Train (Moscow to Beijing, 2005-6); from small businesse in Birmingham (FRAME_, 2012-13) to owners of portraits by Victorian artist George Richmond (The George Richmond Portrait Project, 2009-ongoing), and finally from residents of Camden (Camden Encounters, 2015) to performers in cities I am not in (#Sergina's Stimulatingly Sexy Simultaneous Simulation of Herself). For all of this kind of work, sensitivity toward the idea of ‘place’ or ‘culture’ is central. I believe in the power of art as a positive force in the public arena and in making art accessible to as wide an audience as possible. #Sergina is [/was] my alter ego drag persona, who writes and performs songs online and offline about love, sex and identity in the digital age. My PhD at Goldsmiths was per/formed in un/easy collaboration with her. #Sergina is an identity that can be worn (out) on different bodies, borrowed and mimicked across time zones and geographical borders - but is now being archived.
The George Richmond Portrait Project involves tracing family portraits by British portrait artist George Richmond RA, 1809-1896 (my great-great-great grandfather) to private homes in order to photograph both the portraits and their current guardians (descendants of those portrayed) in situ. I am also making audio recordings of my sitters discussing what they know both of their ancestors and the portraits themselves. I am interested in the place and role of historical portraiture in our Facebook/Twitter/Instagram era, and in the stories that accompany them and the ways in which these stories are learned and told. Between January-August 2014, thanks to a research grant from Arts Council West Midlands, I was focussing primarily on this project, researching, doing more shoots, and having meetings with potential exhibition venues with a view to setting up a series of small-scale exhibitions/ interventions in a variety museum spaces across the country. Julie Tsang (photographic assistant) and Lucy Dixon (research assistant) are working me with this project. With Simon Harper PR helping with the press. 17th October - 1st November 2014 new material gathered this year was exhibited at GSL Projekt, Berlin, alongside two other photographic projects by Lisa Jugert & Kerstin Honeit. See more at http://www.georgerichmondproject.com and on my website: http://www.ellyclarke.com
I was commissioned to reinterpret my 2012-13 Oral History project Half Crowns in Their Petticoats, for permanent installation in the building the project was about - the former Birmingham Municipal Bank - which is now a cafe and event space for the University of Birmingham. The project involved weaving in interviews gathered by the heritage team of the University along with the original recordings I had made 13 years ago, and photo archives of both the bank and the University. The project launches in July, and will appear via strategically placed QR codes leading to playlists for each location. The work explores how banking, and working, and saving, and life alongside (permanent) jobs has changed over the last 60 years.
Associate Lecturer across all years of BA Culture, Criticism and Curation and BA Critical Studies.
Final Project Supervisor Previously taught on Collaborative Practice module, Finding Your Voice and freelance lectures on topics of gender, charaterisation and collaborative writing.