PORTFOLIO
“Ella’s work also reveals how aesthetic practices effectively emphasize the possibility of shifting the colonizing gaze through re-signification and through complex intersections of multiple places, historical temporalities, and subject positions. This work is a relevant reflection of art and humanity in our current age of transitional subjectivities and changeable social realities.”
PHOTOGRAPHY & INSTALLATION
EMBODIED LAND / ECSTATIC RESISTANCE
Ecstatic nude exploration in the Canadian landscape. Exploring themes of Black Joy, reclamation, Canadian national identity and embodies elated resistance.
ECSTATIC NUDES
Reclaiming the Black female nude through embodied elated resistance #BlackJoy
VIDEO INSTALLATION : V-FORMATION
Part of the BODY LAND IDENTITY series : locating the Black female body in the Canadian landscape
NEW COMMUNITY PHOTO SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT : MOTHER BODY ERASURE
Mother Body Erasure Identity : Featured in Lilith Magazine
JOSHUA TREE : LANDSCAPE SERIES 2025
'NO SELF' : Butoh Portraits : featuring 4Rude Dance Company
WITNESS : Berlin Photobooth Series : Photo Series : NEW SOLO EXHIBITION ON TOUR feature at Fenster Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery and Jewish Museum of Vienna (2024)
PHOTO SERIES : BODY LAND IDENTITY
Participatory photo video series and workshop exploring representation of the Black female body in Canadian landscape...images coming soon.
UNTITLED : NEW EXPLORATIONS : Berlin Residency
VIDEO COMMISSIONS
DANCE FILM WORKS
(2023) Credit : Director. New dance film documentary commission featuring the Esmeralda Spanish Dance Company and special guests (Jose Donaldo and Caroline Pointe)
Montreal Performance Video Commission : Filmed by Ella Cooper featuring Gerry Trentham, Diane Roberts & Sylvie Bouchard
DANCE FOR LIFE : DANCE FILM DOCUMENTARY Featuring : Pulga Muchochoma
Honorable Mention for 'BEST DOCUMENTARY' San Francisco Dance Film Festival
Official Selection - 2017 Dance Camera West (LA), 2018 Cinedans International Dance Film Festival (Amsterdam), 2018 ReFrame Dance Film Festival, 2017 Dance Made in Canada Festival (Toronto) 2018 World Cinema Festival (Amsterdam) and featured on Metro Morning & Bell Fibe TV.
IMPOSSIBLE LONGING : VIDEO PERFORMANCE ART
Video Installation / Experimental film : Contemplating notions of Blacklessness, land, reclamation and the absurd.
GONE : Dance Film Improvisation :
Credit : Director & DP
Shot in Necropolis, Toronto’s oldest cemetery. This film is part of a series of dance film improvisations Ella created with local dance artists to explore how space and the constraints of time could inform new dance on screen works. The collaboration led to a piece that is reminiscent of Afro spirituals, exploring themes of death, loss and longing.
Exhibited at the Canada Council for the Arts Ajagemo Gallery, Thunder Struck Group Show, curated by Jenn Goodwin
CHILDREN’S CONTENT & illustration
KIKI & KWAME : New Animated Series in development with CBC Kids & Sphere Media - Check out the Brown Rabbit Studios Website for details!
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Youth dance film workshop & showcase
(2017) Luminato Festival Video Commission featuring Broken Social Scene, musicians from the Arts & Crafts Label and Regent Park School of Music
Black Girls Film Camp
EMERGENCE : Arts & Equity : Toronto Arts Foundation
Award winning Documentary Short
Mark Morris Dance & Regent Park LUMINATO FESTIVAL