Elliott Flanagan is a poet, writer and artist. He was born in Burnley, a post-industrial town in the North of England. His work explores class, subcultures, and personal and social histories. A period spent playing football, working in sales and holiday repping contrasted with a ‘hidden pursuit’ of art via film, music, television, fashion, and rare gallery visits. His work is an exploration of the sometimes jarring intersection between these co-existing lives, and an ongoing dissection of contemporary masculinity.
He works regionally and internationally using poetry, installation, performance, sound, text, filmmaking, and collaborative practices. He was published by Burnley Words Festival in 2023 with Pendle Press; commissioned by Venture Arts in 2023 with artist Barry Finan, and exhibited new work at The Whitaker, Rossendale in 2022.
Install shot
Image: Courtesy of Jules Lister
‘A piece of something bigger’ explores contemporary masculinity through the prism of package holiday culture. Flanagan looks at the ideas entrenched in the male gender stereotype that saturated his youth – misunderstood and under pressure to ‘conform and perform’. The artist studies a tension from his own experience between one’s own consciousness and social expectations.
‘The traditional form of masculinity and its lack of complexity is subverted, as the viewer is party to glimpses of real honesty in the chaos. The film discusses the camaraderie that exists in relationships between men and the value of the communal experience therein.’
With music by William Brown and Ashley Snook.
Install shot
Image: Courtesy of Jules Lister
