ELSA JAMES
@thisiselsajames
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Artist + activist on the 50 Most Influential People in Essex List (mainly on Instagram with the same handle). Honorary Doctorate from the University of Essex ✨
Southend-on-Sea, England
Joined August 2012
In 2020 I put forward the names Hester Woodley & Princess Dinubolu, the two women from my Forgotten Black Essex (2018) films to be worthy of receiving commemorative plaques. This month the women made history & became the first two women of colour to receive Blue Plaques in Essex!
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In today's interview @inspireajen chats to @thisiselsajames about her new exhibition at @firstsite, It Should Not Be Forgotten, exploring themes of chattel enslavement, its impact on contemporary black British life, and how we engage with the past. Dig in! https://t.co/oqc8uJs6f7
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Image: ‘The Black Essex Flag' (2019) was acquired by @BeecroftGallery / @SouthendMuseums in 2022 with support from SHARE Museums East, @ace_national Acquisitions Grant, @artfund and the @ace_national / @V_and_A Purchase Grant Fund Photo: Tessa Hallmann
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BIG NEWS! I am very excited to share some amazing news! Next month, the University of Essex will be awarding me an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of my work exploring the Essex identity and advocating for the overlooked and misunderstood aspects of Essex's past and present.
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🏆 Our final BBC Essex Make A Difference Award goes to… Corrina Hayzelden! 🏆 She wins the ‘Together’ award for setting up multiple community groups in the Hockley area. @UnitedInKind Hear Corrina’s full story: https://t.co/WI6m5nONaw
#BBCMakeADifference
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Artist and activist @thisiselsajames chose Corrina Hayzelden as her winner for the 'Together' category at the BBC Essex Make A Difference Awards. Elsa paid tribute to Corrina's "generosity and caring nature". #BBCMakeADifference @UnitedInKind More: https://t.co/IpWBEpE1Xr
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Black parents often look on with fear that our children get overlooked. But this heartbreaking scene is so distressing & hard to understand that I've written to #GymnasticsIreland, like many of you, for an explanation. Let's do something for this aspiring & beautiful gymnast.
Welcome to Ireland where people get away with racism! This little black girl broke my heart. Don’t skip this post without leaving a million heart for her. Make her famous…
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In 2023, we invited Essex-based artiste and activist Elsa James to respond to our London, Sugar and Slavery gallery with a disruptive intervention. Want to see how it went? Find out here https://t.co/BIy0uGsRT5
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About tonight… some images from our special VIP reception for @thisiselsajames & the installation of her work “Ode to David Lammy MP” prior to a full house for @PegasusOpera’s #Windrush75 Celebration Concert! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #windrush #WindrushGeneration #bgac #elsajames @DavidLammy
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WINDRUSH 75 Elsa James' "Ode to David Lammy" FREE, Sat 24 June - Mon 30 Oct 2023 Contemporary artwork by artist @thisiselsajames, ‘Ode to David Lammy MP’, inspired by the MP response to the Windrush scandal. Find out more about our Windrush 75 programme: https://t.co/trVzKLW0pW
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This is a brilliant discussion. London's future is being formed right now in its ex-industrial outer suburbs and in south Essex, and the panel ably sum up its dangers and joys.
Four go mad on Essex - @timburrows @dantaylor42 @thisiselsajames and Simon Heffer on @BBCFreeThinking
https://t.co/qUQtpOipKR
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Modernist Essex (Silver End)/Postmodernist Essex (@thisiselsajames)
We all know what Essex is like don't we? Well, maybe not . . . Cast aside all thoughts of fake tans and white stilettos and enter a rich world of strangeness and nuance with @timburrows @thisiselsajames @dantaylor42 @DrMatthewSweet @ProfileBooks
https://t.co/8fl1nDuCfP
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Four go mad on Essex - @timburrows @dantaylor42 @thisiselsajames and Simon Heffer on @BBCFreeThinking
https://t.co/qUQtpOipKR
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See the incredible RITES OF PASSAGE @Gagosian #London until April 29th. Curated by @pejuoshin Featuring works by @thisiselsajames @asiko_artist @PhoebeBoswell @victorsozaboy @AdelaideDamoah @EnamGDesigns and more. #BlackStar #blackart #blackjoy #art #exhibition #africanart
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And here’s an article published in @galdemzine yesterday with me in conversation with my daughter (wearing her journalist hat 🎩) on the Forgotten Black Essex project and the Blue Plaques 💫 https://t.co/dUFOOttC2J
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FPG Recommends Catch Elsa James' work showing as part of the group exhibition, ‘Rites of Passage’, at Gagosian Gallery. Curated by Péjú Oshin, the exhibition features work by nineteen contemporary artists who share a history of migration. Until 29th April. More information below.
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A blue plaque has been unveiled in Southend to commemorate the first black woman in the UK to take part in a beauty contest. https://t.co/Z5hGBv2NEU
bbc.co.uk
The forgotten story of Princess Dinubolu, whose beauty ambitions shocked Edwardian Britain.
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