Journey To The Centre Of The Couch (Couches & Other Good Ideas), Ella Dorton
Hull based artist Ella Dorton will expand her fabric collage-based practice with her first major project at Humber Street Gallery.
Typically using found fabrics, old clothes, bedsheets, curtains and paint, the artist composes portraits that reflect the people of Hull. Her interests have recently explored fictional future landscapes that capture drastic ecological change with rising sea levels and continued use of plastics and their detriment on the environment.
For her project at Humber Street Gallery, the artist will develop a series of large-scale fabric collages that depict individuals and groups of people that make up the social diaspora of Hull from communities surrounding her own neighbourhood. To create these, the artist has composed portraits and sketches brought together through extensive sittings with her subjects. These sittings act as an axis to bring the voices of those who greatly inspire her, directly into the work, often including quotes from conversations scrawled/stitched onto the final piece.
Ella Dorton is one of seven artists who collectively run Ground, an artist run workshop, gallery and community space. Many of the subjects within in this series of work have been a part of the Ground community.
Past events

Installation View. Practice in Place. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists, 2020. © Jules Lister
Practice In Place

HIPI Hang Out Forum, Absolutely Cultured © Absolutely Cultured
1:1 Advice Surgeries with Arts Council England

50 Queers for 50 Years Workshop © Chris Pepper
Creative Micro-Commission Programme

Nnena Kalu, Wrapping. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Wrapping, Nnena Kalu

Frances Disley, The Cucumber Fell in the Sand. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Frances Disley: The Cucumber Fell In The Sand

Installation View. Jade Montserrat, Instituting Care. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Jade Montserrat: Instituting Care

Ella Dorton, Journey to the Centre of the Couch (Couches & Other Good Ideas). Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Journey To The Centre Of The Couch (Couches & Other Good Ideas), Ella Dorton

Man On The Moon Keisha Thompson. IETM Hull 2019 © Keisha Thompson
IETM Hull 2019 Artistic Programme

Installation view. Measures of Life, The Lumen Prize for Digital Art. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists 2018. © Tom Arran
Measures of Life by The Lumen Prize for Digital Art

A Duckie Summer Tea Party/LGBT50 © Tom Arran
A Duckie Summer Tea Party / LGBT50

Chatty Hull, 2019 © Absolutely Cultured
Making work with and for communities

HIPI Hang Out Forum, Absolutely Cultured © Absolutely Cultured
Arts Council England under £15k Applications: Top Tips with Deb Ashby

Installation view, 2019. Ollie Dook, Proboscidea Rappings. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Proboscidea Rappings, Ollie Dook

Dance Exchange Programme, Absolutely Cultured © Absolutely Cultured
Dance Exchange Hull

Hull Takeover: Previews © The Herd/The Roaring Girls/Just Club
Hull Takeover: Previews

Athena Papadopoulos, A Tittle-Tattle Tell-a-Tale-Heart, courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist 2019. © James Mulkeen
A Tittle-Tattle Tell-a-Tale Heart, Athena Papadopoulos

Installation view. Place To Place: Liverpool Biennial Touring Programme. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists 2019. © Tom Arran
Place To Place: Liverpool Biennial Touring Programme

Jamie Reid XXXXX: Fifty Years of Subversion and The Spirit © Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid XXXXX: Fifty Years of Subversion and The Spirit

John Grant's North Atlantic Flux: Sounds from Smoky Bay © Chris Pepper
John Grant's North Atlantic Flux: Sounds from Smoky Bay

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca © Hull Truck Theatre
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

Installation view, 2020. Jamie Crewe, Solidarity & Love. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist. © Jules Lister.
Jamie Crewe, Solidarity & Love

Model City, Absolutely Cultured © Tom Arran
Volunteer Community Support and Crisis Response

Installation view, 2020. Lucy Clout, ZZZ. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2020. © Jules Lister
Lucy Clout, ZZZ

Lucy, 2019. Aniara Omann, Equanipolis. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Equanipolis, Aniara Omann

Installation View. Mike S Redmond and Faye Coral Jones (MSR FCJ), Ecstatic Rituals.Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister
Ecstatic Rituals

IETM Hull © Tom Arran
Emerging Cultural Leaders Mobility Bursary 2019 - Information Event

PRS Foundation's New Music Biennial 2019, Absolutely Cultured © Tom Arran
PRS Foundation New Music Biennial 2019
Cut, Humber Street Gallery 2019. © James Mulkeen
Cut, Richard Houguez & Graham Jones

Candoco Dance Company © Hugo Glendinning
IETM Hull 2019 Plenary Meeting

Oh The Night! - imitating the dog. Urban Legends: Northern Lights, Absolutely Cultured © Tom Arran
Urban Legends: Northern Lights

Installation view. It Takes A Village. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists 2019. © James Mulkeen
It Takes a Village

Installation view. It Takes A Village. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists 2017 © Hull News & Pictures