Ellington Bramwell – SAIC CLASS OF 2021 GRADUATE WEBSITE

Graduates

Ellington Bramwell

Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment

bramwell.ellington@gmail.com

projectsbyel.com

As a Chicagoan I split my early school years between sports and the city’s art culture before studying Media and Studio Art at Pomona College in California. My time as a Graduate at the School of Art Institute of Chicago provided space for me to continue exploring ideas through installation, sculpture, visual imagery and garment.

Fueling these ideas are personal reflections to how I negotiate escapism, vulnerability, body movement and spectatorship. My practice today is a cumulative pursuit towards personal visibility that I wish to expand through design, installation, video and media.

An equally instrumental facet of my practice concerns art’s consumption and its accessibility. Through this lens I pursue ways of democratizing art via community workshops, software instruction and art supply drives. These ideas and values expand the bounds of my practice and hopefully hold new conversations

Ellington Bramwell - Untethered

Untethered, 2020, Natural cotton rope, nylon, and steel, 114 x 36 x 36 in.

Ellington Bramwell - Untethered

Untethered, 2020, Natural cotton rope, nylon, steel, 36 x 36 x 114 in.

Ellington Bramwell - Beam (I am them, they are me series)

Beam (I am them, they are me series), 2021, Plaster, lumber, 84 x 72 in.

Ellington Bramwell - Bench (I am them, they are me series)

Bench (I am them, they are me series), 2020, Plaster, 36 x 12 x 30 in.

Ellington Bramwell - Bench (I am them, they are me series)

Bench (I am them, they are me series), Bench, 2020, Plaster, 3 x 1 x 2.5 ft.

Untitled (I am them, they are me series), 2020, Video, 2:05 mins.

Dent, 2019, Video, 40 secs.

Edge of Simulation, 2019, Video, 22 secs.

Untethered

Untethered is a suspended sculpture that explores the journey through space and vessel of emotions. The body’s fragmented appearance at various angles contribute towards its collective image from the front and back which builds a whole body. Recurring feelings of fragility and vulnerability are woven into the fibers of frayed rope. Hidden and suspended on invisible string, the body moves with the wind of its environment and offers a different gesture to anyone looking upon.

I am them, they are me

This body of work began with witnessing the vast apathy concerning recent social unrest and the normalcy of violence on Black people. Yes, some issues are black and white while some are more complex, but recognizing the fullness of Black people’s breath should not be of constant debate.

Behind the obsessive debates are very real lives that were taken. These earthbound souls long for answers and justice that were stripped. I offer myself to these souls as a vessel for exit and visualizer of sorrow. The distressing poses I hold temporarily are a mere fraction of the total loss, and yet, I feel the weight of their anger, pain, confusion and yearning.