ABOUT
Elleanna Chapman is a communist and artist. She investigates the political potential of art to catalyse class struggle, framing her call for revolution through the kitsch, cute, and pop-cultural – contrasting militancy with the fabulous and familiar. Working across media, with a particular fondness for bedazzling and installation, she attempts to bring the true nature of class society to the fore, delivered to the viewer via a litter of scrumptiously cute kittens or the glittering hand of a diva.
Underpinning her work, Chapman is a member of the Revolutionary Communist International. Consequently, she regularly engages with working-class histories, propaganda strategies, and current affairs. The artist asserts that her political organisation is in and of itself a social practice that both justifies and informs her work in the studio.
Drawing from her sincere love for so-called ‘low art’, Chapman looks to disrupt class and taste hierarchies, collaging found material together with her own creations, and stealing from society’s expansive image (and pop) culture as a basis for proletarian subversion. Ultimately, the artist hopes to create a new form of agitprop that will have you looking twice – when the revolutionary is put forward vis-à-vis the fabulous and the familiar, the demand to oust capitalism altogether does not appear so outlandish, after all.
EDUCATION
2021 - 2024
The Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, BFA Fine Art (First Class Honours)
2020 - 2021
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, Foundation Diploma in Fine Art (Distinction)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026
Good Eye Projects, Saatchi Gallery, London [upcoming]
2025
Anonymous Anomalies, Overbury Road, London
Fandom with Bad Art Presents, London Art Services, London
A Summer Party with Working Arts Club and Working Class Creatives, The Art House, London
DGTL GRL, Galleria Objets, London
Summer Camp, East Side Projects, Birmingham
Despite, Ethereal Maison Gallery, London
Grafters Collective: on-screen, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford
Estuary Dreams: Screened, Focal Point Gallery, Essex
The Rendered Girl, Ethereal Maison Gallery, London
Home Is Where the Art Is, Hypha HQ, London
Whipped, Under the Spell Art Space, London
2024
Hypha Studios Open, The Dispensary, Wrexham
Introducing: Grafters Collective, The Peckham Pelican, London
Water, Oil, Honey, The Crypt Gallery, London
2023
Decolonising Computing with Art Review Oxford, The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford
Time to Act, hARTslane, London
Open Cells, Koppel Collective Gallery, London
PRINT!, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
I docked my own tail, The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford [duo]
DOOZY, Strange Brew, Bristol
Spilt Milk, Fusion Arts, Oxford
S for Southend, Focal Point Gallery, Essex
2022
New Hybrids, Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, Oxford
Trouble, Fusion Arts, Oxford
T E L L I N G S P A C E S, The Dolphin Gallery, Oxford [solo]
A Cosmos of Colour, Richmond Gallery, Yorkshire
RESIDENCIES
2025
Acme Studios, London
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
Good Eye Projects, London
Hypha Studios HQ, London
2024
WOMB with Bow Arts, London
Cambridge Artworks and Art Space, Cambridge
2023
The Koppel Project, London
SELECTED AWARDS
2025
Recipient of the Emergent Residency and Bursary Award, Shape Arts, London, UK and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Recipient of the Eaton Fund, London, UK
2023
Recipient of The Supporting Act Foundation's Creative Bursary, Amsterdam, NL
2022
Recipient of the Egerton Coghill Landscape Prize, Oxford, UK
COLLECTIONS
Good Eye Projects, London
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Oxford
EDITIONS
SELECTED PRESS AND FEATURES
2025
Guide to Frieze Week 2025, Hector Campbell for The Shock of the Now
Nº101: Elleanna Chapman, God Save The Scene
Spotlight: Elleanna Chapman, 'Please welcome to the stage... Comrade Beyoncé', GRASS Magazine
Don't Miss: London art for your diary, Plaster Magazine
Elleanna Chapman confirmed as Baltic x Shape Arts Emergent recipient, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Introducing the 2025 Emergent resident and cohort, Shape Arts
Plaster Shoots: A birthday bash with Working Arts Club and Working Class Creatives, Isabel MacCarthy for Plaster Magazine
Screening: Grafters Collective, Modern Art Oxford
Estuary Dreams, Focal Point Gallery
Home Is Where the Art Is by Grafters Collective at Hypha HQ, Tom Glover for FAD Magazine
Whipped at Under the Spell, émergent magazine
Issue#158 - Recommended Exhibitions, Hector Campbell for The Shock of the Now
Whipped with Elleanna Chapman, Gina Fischli, Jamie Fitzpatrick, and Unyimeabasi Udoh, Jéssica Varrichio for Under the Spell
An Interview with Elleanna Chapman, Women Cinemakers
2024
Grantees talk about their graduation, The Supporting Act Foundation
2023
Say hello to the 2023 grantees, The Supporting Act Foundation
Exploring the Political Power of Kitschy Collages: an interview with Elleanna Chapman, Insights of an Eco Artist Magazine
Big Screen Associate Programme, Focal Point Gallery
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2025
Kitties Want Communism. Self-Published.
2024
Introducing: Grafters Collective. Published by Grafters Collective.
The Cute Communist: Exploring the political potential of a cute aesthetic. Self-Published.
Autists & their Animals. Published by Grrrl Zine Fair.
2023
Teach-Out on Education and Work in Art Review Oxford, Issue Six. Published by The University of Oxford.
CONTACT
studio@elleannachapman.com
@elleannac Instagram