ZAVIER ELLIS | THIS IS ENGLAND | SOUTH HILL PARK | 2026

Zavier Ellis: This is England

PRIVATE VIEW Friday 6 March 2026 6:30–8:30pm

EXHIBITION DATES Saturday 7 March–Tuesday 7 April 2026

EXHIBITION HOURS Monday–Saturday 11am–5pm

ADDRESS South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell, RG12 7PA

ZAVIER ELLIS presents This Is England, a major solo exhibition confronting the symbols, myths, and contradictions embedded within English identity. Working across large-scale flag-format paintings, intimate panels, and a limited-edition work on paper series, Ellis transforms national emblems into sites of critical inquiry.

At the centre of the exhibition is Dieu et Mon Droit, a five-by-three-foot painting scaled to the proportions of the St George’s Cross. By incorporating references to the Royal African Company alongside figures such as Alfred the Great and King Arthur, Ellis interrogates how nationalist narratives selectively frame England’s past. The French-language royal motto underscores the irony of “pure” identity in a nation shaped by invasion, migration, and empire.

Death or Glory and Rivers of Blood expand this investigation into maritime history and racial politics. Referencing Horatio Nelson, the transatlantic slave trade, and the rhetoric of Enoch Powell, Ellis addresses how imperial ambition and exclusionary ideology continue to reverberate throughout contemporary Britain.

Other works pivot towards cultural production and resistance. Gloriana assembles a genealogy of female power from Elizabeth I to the suffragettes and Margaret Thatcher, while Destroy traces a line from punk to rave culture, positioning subculture as a catalyst for social change. She Walks in Beauty revisits Lord Byron as both cultural icon and political actor, linking Romanticism to contemporary debates surrounding heritage and ownership.

Through layered surfaces of paint, collage, graffiti, and dirt, Ellis resists nostalgia and challenges simplistic patriotism. This Is England positions national identity as an evolving and contested construct shaped as much by dissent and contradiction as by ceremony and tradition.

Visitors will also be able to view works from Ellis’s Sites of Conflict series elsewhere in the venue, exploring historic events shaped by protest and political unrest.

A limited-edition series of works on paper produced in conjunction with the exhibition will be available to collectors at a special Museum Collector price of £50 via Project Papyrophilia.

ABOUT ZAVIER ELLIS

Zavier Ellis studied History of Modern Art at Manchester University before completing an MA in Fine Art at City &Guilds of London Art School. He has exhibited internationally alongside artists including Peter Blake, Michael Craig-Martin, Damien Hirst, Julian Opie, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Antoni Tàpies, Gavin Turk, and Mark Wallinger.

His work has been shown at institutions including Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Pera Museum Istanbul, Torrance Art Museum Los Angeles, Saatchi Gallery London, and Galerie Heike Strelow Frankfurt. Ellis’s work is held in major private collections including Sammlung Annette und Peter Nobel, Zurich and Beth Rudin DeWoody, West Palm Beach.

zavierellis.com