Conversation starter

Brighton artist Elizabeth Eade is hoping to spark conversation with her first major solo exhibition, I know you are but what am I. Simone Hellyer finds out where her inspiration comes from

- Simone Hellyer

Watching a serious disaster or crisis on the news can sometimes feel like too much to take in, a feeling that Brighton artist Elizabeth Eade explores with her award-winning installation, Die Liste.

Elizabeth, who completed an MA in fine art at the University of Brighton, created Die Liste, a 10 metre-long handwritten list of 33,305 people, to give a name to the people who have died trying to access Europe.

“I wanted to show how difficult it is to take on all this information and how easy it is for people to just put it to one side. There are 33,305 names on that list and when people walk away they don’t ever remember any of them – it’s too much information, too much confusion. I think it’s very human not to be able to take that on board and art can sometimes make you realise that you are fallible.”

The sentiment certainly seems to have struck a chord with the art world, culminating with Elizabeth winning the 2018 HIX Award with Die Liste. The celebrated award was created to give young artists a platform to showcase their work and is judged by the likes of Tracey Emin. As part of the award Elizabeth won £10,000 and a solo exhibition at HIX ART in London. Entitled I know you are but what am I, Elizabeth’s first major solo show opened this January and runs until 15 March. On what visitors can expect, she says: “I hope that people will find things that they’re not expecting.