THE ARTIST

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ELLE’s work is evocative, alluring, lavish, outrageous, purposeful and informative. Although she began as an illegal graffiti artist in New York, ELLE is now considered one of the top touring street artists. “ELLE has created some of the most memorable walls in all streetart” - Women Street Artists, book by Xavier Tapies. 

 

ELLE considers her paintings to be poetry. She creates stories by collaging disparate images: powerful females, flora and fauna, classical paintings juxtaposed with pop-culture and high fashion imagery, revealing a purposefully designed messages to the world. Her passion for the environment and feminism are shown in the transparency of messages throughout her pieces. ELLE’s current agenda is raising awareness of the hazards of global warming and ocean acidification affecting the world’s reefs. Her work has been exhibited in the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London, Urban Nation Museum in Berlin, and as a two hundred foot tall projection onto the facade of the New Museum in New York. Vogue Australia featured ELLE’s recent artworks in “32 pieces of Melbourne street art to see before you die,” and her graffiti is featured in the new Tom Clancy video game: The Division. “She holds specific and hard to find creative talent which cannot be taught nor replicated”- The Taboo Group.

ELLE is currently working with multiple organisations, brands and schools to help inspire and empower future generations, especially young women. These fall under her mantra of her "Empowering Youth for Good" initiative.

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THE ARTWORK

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This painting is created in Elle's typical collage style, bringing together imagery to tell a poem of sorts - in this case the history of Darwin. The woman, central to the image, is a collage of aboriginal faces which represents the Larrakia people and original inhabitants of the area. One of the eyes is of a Chinese woman - representing the influx of Chinese who came over to work in Darwin during the Gold rush.

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Behind the figure flies a Black Kite bird. Elle is fascinated by the accounts of lightning starting fires in the bush and the Black Kite picking up twigs from the fire and dropping them to spread the fires further in order to burn out food. This symbolism stands for the resilience and brilliance of the individuals and creatures who lived here, in these desert-like surroundings. The woman is also surrounded by local flora - the beautiful vegetation that can be found in Australia.

 

Elle hopes that when people see this image they see beauty, strength, power and pride