Bryony Ella

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Bryony Ella

Interdisciplinary artist working somewhere inbetween science and spirituality, exploring belonging to / with / in / as nature.

25/08/2026

Two weeks left to see My Body is a Sundial in Saatchi Gallery’s The Sun and the Moon - Art inspired by the Celestial exhibition.

Saatchi Gallery
Melting Metropolis

23/08/2026

Sunday studio tings… soaking up Ana Mendieta’s compelling body of work Tate ~ studio research time 🙏🏽

Her work feels incredibly timely and timeless. I was particularly moved by her silhouette series; Mendieta appears and disappears both in and as nature, moving from deep time - pre-historic mark making across ancestral landscapes - to present time - revelling in sensorial contact with elemental forces of earth, fire, wind and water. Cycles of birth and death, creation and destruction run throughout the show as motifs. It’s like the artist is repeating the mantra: “I was here, I was here, I was here”, but with humility and a desire to connect to more ancient understandings of this temporary animation as human being — working tenderly with natural materials, “allowing the spirit she saw in all things to speak through her practice.”

It was a surprise to see that she featured in a Heresies journal my mum worked on in the early 80s (third to last image - no idea if they ever met but I’m choosing to believe they crossed paths), and a particular delight to listen to NYC school kids she invited to ponder on the question of what is soul, and where do our souls come from. The following are a few quotes from that work:

“I’m glad I have it.”
“I don’t know where it came from but it’s surely nice.”
“I agree it’s strange but who knows, no one’s seen it.”
“I don’t think it looks like you.”
“I don’t know the shape of it but it may be round or a triangle.”
“I think it changes shape each year.”
“I think it gets bigger every time you grow.”
“No scientist really knows if it’s true or not true.”
“I think it knows everything.”
“It’s strange and sometimes your soul gives you moral support. This morning I was thinking my whole life is a dream cos everybody is, you know, strange.”
“I think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world to you.”
“I think your soul is right by your brain.”
“I think it’s down in your toe.”
“I think it’s in your ear.”
“I think it’s in your shadow when you’re in the sun”
“I think it’s surrounding you to sometimes help you from falling.”
“I think it stabilises you.”
“My guess is as good as any but it probably came when you’re born.”

14/08/2026

Friday feels 💚🩷💛 getting back into the groove of painting and spending time soaking up the Cornish landscape - a place I’ve called home for 20 months yet I’ve hardly stood still in Kernow during that time. This feels good and I’m getting excited to open studios in 7 weeks or so 🙏🏽

12/08/2026

I made a thing! And it’s in the Saatchi Gallery for a few more weeks.

NEXT WEEK join me and Dr Kara Schlichting at Saatchi Lates, Friday 21 August, 6:30-8:30, where we’ll be actually *inside* my artwork, chatting about how ‘My Body is a Sundial’ came into being through our art x environmental history collaboration as part of Melting Metropolis research.

We’ll chat about our ‘Drawing Heat’ walk shops in NYC, share some of the sketches made by NYC participants, talk about our shared interest in sensory-guided research across archives, with communities, in the studio and on the streets of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, and explain how this sculpture has translated our findings. We’re also looking forward to chatting about all things heat and summer in London, too. Come with questions and share your summer memories with us.

Tickets are still available via Saatchi Gallery Events.

11/08/2026

Weather + bodies + more-than-human communication

Deeply grateful to and Artangel with g39 for inviting me into a fascinating exploration of all things embodied climate last month. I’m late to post some of the few pics caught of the day but here they are!

It was a pleasure to bring Stand of the Sun - a performance commissioned and inspired by urban heat researchers Melting Metropolis - to be in conversation with abipalmer_bot’s poignant yet playful “Abi Palmer invents the weather” film series as part of the day. Following Abi’s jewel-like Flat-Pack Forest workshop, we held an artist’s discussion exploring different aspects to how we engage with climate change through creative practice. Brilliant questions from creative peers in the audience then led us on to being treated to a new interpretation of ‘Stand of the Sun’ by Jodi Ann Nicholson and 🙏🏽

It was a truly enriching day, curated with care and intention. And a real pleasure to take SOTS on the road and beyond London. Thank you to everyone involved 🧡

09/08/2026

Sunday-studio-sketchbook

07/08/2026

Pro tip: you can’t stay pi**ed off on a pogo!

Amongst all the oils, easels, canvas and books in my studio there is one you might not expect, but I’m here to say: you won’t ever regret a pogo stick.

Last year my inner kid decided I needed one back in my life and honestly, it has become the BEST remedy to any frustrating calls, disappointing emails and oh just generally overthinking - which I’m quite excellent at. Gets you right back outa the mind into the bod - remembering not to take things too seriously; I challenge anyone to stay angry on a pogo - it’s hilarious watching folk try to keep a stern face on.

Any other artists out there who pogo?! 🙌🏽

(Final pic - the actual shot that ever-patient photographer Ewelina Ruminska was waiting for 😅💚)

06/08/2026

The myth of resilience
Oil on canvas

170 x 140 cm

This piece was my first exploration of resilience as a futile hope and endeavour, when facing awesome, destructive, powerful natural forces… I was particularly thinking on the overuse of the word resilience as a way “out of” the environmental crisis, inspired by conversations around climate injustice with Melting Metropolis …

Who is being asked to bear the burden of resilience, and who is not?

Started in NYC in 2024, finished in Cornwall 2026. Both coastal…

… exploring hybrid abstract figures - the more-than- human merging with human egos, grappling with human denialism, feeling into human frailty… amidst crashing waves of reality…

Searching for humility and honesty in the deepest ultramarine, prussian and indanthrone blues.

27/07/2026

Earlier in July, I was honoured to share with Big Issue how I’ve been working creatively with environmental historians Melting Metropolis to illuminate urbanites relationship to the sun through time and space. Swipe to see some of our joint article in a special Heat issue, written by Prof Chris Pearson, Dr Jon Winder, Anna Ravenscroft and I.

Heat waves can be miserable for all of us - we’ve felt how sweltering and stifling summer can be this year, with heat wave following heat wave without much respite. As Melting Metropolis’ research highlights, extreme heat is not just an environmental crisis, but also a cultural and a housing crisis. This Big Issue focuses on how for those living on the street heatwaves can be a matter of life or death and, alongside our article, features reporting on how councils are responding to heat waves - specifically the challenge of finding safe housing: “You’ve got the most vulnerable in society in some of the worst housing.” (Clifford, UCL).

Why not pick up a copy and support the Big Issue? - i hadn’t realised that you can buy copies online, which is also probably really helpful right now as the journal also reports that sellers are finding it extremely hard to remain outside to sell issues this summer. Let’s keep looking out for one another out there - and keep the momentum and pressure on councils ~ even after the heat waves have passed. 🧡

Address

Krowji, West Park
Redruth
TR15 3GE

Website

http://www.studiobryonyella.com/

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