Ellie’s work explores the fragmented nature of identity, shaped by the experience of growing up in a neutral space between Irish and British cultures in the North of Ireland. This duality informs her investigation into how personal and cultural identities are fluid, often undefined, and continuously shifting in response to historical and social contexts. Her work speaks to the wider experiences of migration and the pursuit of new opportunities, reflecting on the nuances of belonging and cultural negotiation. These themes resonate, reflecting the feeling of existing between cultures, places, and identities. By combining sculpture and digital technologies she blends the physical and digital worlds, understanding how they co-exist and how they reshape our perception of self, memory and reality. She creates augmented versions of her memories, blending personal narratives with altered interpretations using sculpture, 3D scanning, and AI. This engages the tension between the familiar and the unknown, giving form to the invisible, and exaggerates memory’s malleability.
Ellie Niblock (b. 1993) is an Irish artist based in London. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins and a BA Hons in Textile Art, Design and Fashion from Ulster University (2015). Her work has been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, the Mark Rothko Centre, and the F.E. McWilliams Gallery. Her sculpture Ban All Fuchsia Pink is part of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s permanent collection. In 2021, she was a featured artist on Sky Arts' Landmark, where she created a large-scale public art installation.
Ellie Niblock (b. 1993)
EDUCATION
2018- 2020 University Of The Arts London Central Saint Martins, MA Fine Art, London, UK
2012-2015 University Of Ulster- Textile Art, Design And Fashion, Belfast, Ireland
MAJOR COLLECTIONS
2020 Arts Council of Northern Ireland permanent collection
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Visualeyes - Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2022 Augment - 87 Gallery, Hull, UK
2016-2017 Absorption - Ards Art Centre, Newtownards, Ireland
2016 Entice, Repel? The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, Ireland
RESIDENCIES
2021- 2022 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2020 @Digitalartistresidency Online Collaborative Residency, online
2020 Incubator Residency With Slash Arts, Harwich, UK
2020 Connect Me Residency With The Arab British Centre And British Council, online
2017 The Mark Rothko Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia
2017 DIVA Residency, Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Ireland
2016 Art Ichol (Supported By Arts Council Of Northern Ireland And British Council) Maihar, India
COMMISSIONS
2021 Contestant On ‘Landmark’ On Sky Arts, Belfast, Ireland
2021 ‘Aquavate’ Installation On The Maritime Mile, Titanic Quarter, Supported By Belfast City Council, Belfast, Ireland
2021 ‘Plug In Panorama’ Digital Artwork In Collaboration With Kaleidoscope Festival, Supported By Bank Of Ireland Together Arts Fund, online
2021 Digital Commission With WheelWorks, Belfast, Ireland
2021 The Artists Emergency Programme Commission, The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
2019 Body Parts AHRC Exhibition, Asia House, London, UK
2018 Sculpture For Scoil An Droichid School, Belfast, Ireland
2018-2022 Commission For Electric Picnic Festival, Stradbally, Ireland
2017 Live Art Performance For Culture Night Belfast In Collaboration With Audiences NI, Belfast, Ireland
EXHIBITIONS
2025 (upcoming) New Abstractions, Refuses x Galleria Objets, London, UK
2025 (upcoming) Deptford X Fringe, London, UK
2025 Flow, Fleet Studios, London, UK
2025 LAS Invites, London Art Services, London, UK
2025 Re-Routing, Holborn Window Gallery, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London, UK
2025 Pickled, APT Gallery, London, UK
2024 Buffer, The Art House, Tbilisi, Georgia
2024 ART COLLECTIVE: From The One To The Many, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2024 Nectar, Hypha Studios X Thin Red Lion, London, UK
2024 Hot In Here, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London, UK
2024 Shelf Life, Hartslane Gallery, London, UK
2024 Rotor, The Louvre, Paris, France
2023 Superposition, Cube In Context Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2023 Melt, Hypha Studios X Creative Land Trust, Euston Tower, London, UK
2023 On Purple, London Art Collective, London, UK
2023 Scary Biscuits, Crypt Gallery, London, UK
2023 In-Flux, Regents Canal, London, UK
2023 Nineteen, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London, UK
2023 Thin Red Lion X Hypha Studios, Farringdon, London, UK
2023 The Sky Is Low And The Ground Is High, Greatorex Street Gallery, London, UK
2023 Nightlife, Loose Screws, E2, London, UK
2022 Abstract, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, Covent Garden, UK
2022 Commercial Exhibition At The Lighterman, London, UK
2021 Assets, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2021 Finally, Ugly Duck, London, UK
2021 The Possibilities Of Touch, Safehouse, London, UK
2020-2021 Open2020, Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
2020 Digital Art Month, Miami, US
2020 QR Code Art Trail, Bloomers Magazine, Cork, Ireland
2020 ‘Do Knot With ‘Er’’ Lux Moving Image Gallery, London, UK
2020 ‘Belongings’, APT Gallery, London, UK
2019 Art Auction, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
2019 ‘Defiance Of Dissent’, Kingsland Road, London, UK
2019 ‘Vanishing Point: The Curation And Preservation Of Virtual Reality’, Tate, V&A Museum And British Film Institute, London, UK
2019 ‘Challenging Space’, Chelsea College Of Arts, London, UK
2019 Tate Exchange VR Interactive Installation, Tate Modern, London, UK
2019 Performer For ‘Murmurations’ By Emma Louise Moore, Lethaby Gallery, London, UK
2018 ‘Form Sculpture’ Exhibition, Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Belfast, Ireland
2017 Destination C.Q Window Exhibition, PS Squared Gallery, Belfast, Ireland
2016 Enniskillen Visual Arts Open, Fermanagh, Ireland
2016 ‘Form, Function And Food’, R-Space Gallery, Lisburn, Ireland
2016 ‘The Art Of Craft’, The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh, Ireland
2014 ‘Down But Not Out’, Titanic Building, Belfast, Ireland
AWARDS
2020 Recipient Of The IERP Fund, Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
2018 Recipient Of The Support For The Individual Artist Award, The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
2017 Recipient Of The Support For The Individual Artist Award, The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
2017 Recipient Of Travel Award, The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland
2016 Artist Residency To Art Ichol, India, Supported By The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland And British Council
TALKS
2020 Panellist For Al Balad Residency, Ministry Of Culture, Saudi Arabia, online
2020 ‘How Digital Art Encourages Connectivity Across Borders’, Agora Digital Art, online
2020 ConnectME Digital Residency Artist Talk, Arab British Centre & The British Council, online
2017 ‘Going Against The Grain’ Blick Studios, Belfast, Ireland
SHORTLISTED
2020 Longlisted For Jerwood Artfund Makers Open
2020 Shortlisted For The Cass Art Prize
2020 Shortlisted For Mead Awards, Central Saint Martins
2018 Shortlisted For QEST Educational Scholarship
PRESS
2025
https://thefineartsociety.uk/a-masterful-exploration-of-time-and-reflection-the-pickled-showcase
2024
https://mater.digital/stories/ellie-niblock-on/
2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/Arts/Design/Hypha-Studios-Free-Artist-Space.html
2022
https://thewickculture.com/Feature-Sculptor-Ellie-Niblock%EF%BF%BC/
https://www.livingnorth.com/Article/All-Non-Festive-Events-Across-Yorkshire-December
2021
https://artuk.org/Discover/Stories/Landmark-On-Sky-Arts-Northern-Ireland
https://visitarmagh.com/Whatson/Summer-Sculpture-Garden-Exhibition/
https://ysp.org.uk/Visiting/Ellie-Niblock
https://www.ccadld.org/News/Cca-Mentoring-Participants-Announced
2020
https://www.britishcouncil.org/Voices-Magazine/How-Create-Art-Someone-Different-Continent
https://www.thegallyry.com/Post/Digital-Artist-Ellie-Niblock-On-Entering-The-Uncertain-Art-World
2019
https://stories.bournemouth.ac.uk/Bodyparts-Exhibition/Index.html
https://www.bath.ac.uk/Announcements/Research-Challenges-Perceptions-Of-Disability-At-Exhibition/
2018
2017
https://wewillthrive.co.uk/Resources/Blogs/Culture-Night-The-Artist-And-The-Audience
https://www.blickstudios.org/Blog-Posts/Share-6-Going-Against-The-Grain/
2016
https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/Features/Ten-Payday-Weekend-Ideas
http://artscouncil-Ni.org/Blog/An-Artist-In-India-Ellie-Niblock
http://www.belfastvibe.com/Big-Stories/Budding-Young-Belfast-Artist-Scoops-Arts-Residency-In-India/