I want to use the bursary to aid a period of research in fanstudies, with a focus on where we draw the line between ‘Fine Art’ and ‘Fan Art’, and what are the larger reaching implications of this distinction. Fanstudies is an established form of academics and is burgeoning as a mode of understanding the arts and fine art creation. I believe we should have ‘fannish’ interpretation alongside, for example, feminist or Marxist. I want to use the bursary to fully dedicate myself to this research and have the privilege to prioritise experimentation.
I want to reconnect with writing and radio as a means of supporting my painting practice. I know that with the support and space to push myself I can use painting as dissertation. This would mean using the bursary for a studio space and for purchasing radio equipment to connect to digital and FM. Fandom is an online space, and I would like to use the budget to experiment with making it physical.
I want to run workshops to connect with the community around how fandom is integral to understanding frequently unspoken parts of identity. As being a fan is so personal, and yet it is a group-based phenomena, to be researched fully I must draw from others lived experience of its role in their lives. I hope the workshops can benefit the community as well as my practice. I would use this studio space to host the workshops.
I want to be able to communicate to others the expanse and relevance of fandom to understanding the self. I want to create a strong body of research and painting that can achieve this communication. I want to show the community that tools of self-expression and understanding are already with them. I would create an exhibition featuring my own work as well as the outcomes of workshops. I want to create a journal-esque radio show to record the process. I would also like to make a publication with the aim to record my writing practice and also to publish ‘Fan Art’- bringing the digital into the physical.
Fandom is universal, everyone is a fan of something, and the way fandom looks in often shaped by geographical area. I believe that it is a great connector and can operate as an access point to creative experimentation, with aspiring writers cutting their teeth in the world of fanfiction or young artists developing drawing skills through using their favourite actors as reference images. To take the product of fan obsession seriously is to support emerging talent, and offer a non-institutional means of engaging with art.
I have noticed research around fandom is frequently southern centric, and when it references the north, it is frequently negative (eg. football hoolganism). I want to change this. Darlington and the North are fandom pilgrimage sites; It’s a musical haven, particularly for emo and alternative music with heavy fandom followings. Passion for football is immense, each team having its own fan language. I want my paintings, supporting practice and research to respect and reflect the Norths unique fan cultures.
One of my closest friends is a writer from Darlington, and his stories of navigating Darlington as a young queer artist embedded in subculture is what inspired me to apply.
I am a figurative oil painter who uses my energetic painting process and confident command of colour to tell stories. My practice is rooted in a love for the act of painting, and an understanding of the role of the painter as a vessel. My work is an autobiographical exploration of lesbian dynamics, fan studies and how painting can be used as a means of self-understanding. Using representational images and appropriation of paintings history, my work is honest, not shying away from humour nor pain. I consider that painting is human, and yet physically tasking; one must be in love with the medium to pursue it and must have something they love to the point it must be immortalised. Lesbianism underpins much of my work, considering the unique perspective from which lesbians feel and experience. I look at butch/femme dynamics: how these two strong aesthetics merge through love and desire. Lesbians use coding in identity expression, and I explore how this can merge with painting to create multiple layers of complex information, bringing these hidden languages front and centre. I also look at fan studies; how being a fan has become an ostracised means of loving and yet operates as a safe ground to explore artistic expression and identity. I am intrigued by how fanfiction, an experimental medium that exists only online, can be expressed physically.
I had my first solo show “Two Polythene Bags” at Parlour Gallery in April 2022, and have shown in group shows including “The Southeast London Archive” at the Livesey Exchange (August 2022), Toughness and Tenderness” at Bermondsey Project Space (February 2023) and Art on a Postcards’ “International Women’s Day Auction” at The Bomb Factory (March 2025). I attended a month-long residency at the historic Studio 5 in St Ives’ Porthmeor Studios in March 2023. I most recently attended the January-March 2024 LungA Schools’ Art program in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. I am currently working as a Visitor Experience Assistant at the Ashmolean, Oxford.
I graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London with a First Class Honours in BA Fine Art in 2021
I won the 2021 Freelands Painting Prize. I was also awarded the 2023 Porthmeor Studio Residency from Freelands, which was fully funded and included a grant of £2000.
I was the first person to be offered a studio as part of Triangle LGBT cultural centre in Deptford, London and was heavily involved with its set up.
While working at Youth Platform, myself and another artist were commissioned two years in a row by GALA festival to collaborate with local young people to create a public instillation for the festival,
My work has been featured in the following publications:
The Finacial Times “Collector Chris Ingram on why philanthropists need to step up to support UK galleries“
Han Archives “Toughness and Tenderness By Jody Evans”
Dazed Digital “These artworks explore the erotic tension between toughness and tenderness”
5.18 spring/summer “Issue Four:Tokky Horror”
I was awarded the 2023 Porthmeor Studio Residnecy from Freelands Foundation and attended a three month residency in 2024 with LungA School in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
Email: elliehdaly@gmail.com
Address: 31A Charlbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6UX, GB
Local Authority: Oxford City Council
