Ellen Harvey

Artist

Ellen Harvey is a British-born conceptual artist whose work explores how we see, represent, and value place. Across painting, public installations, and participatory projects, she examines the social and ecological implications of the picturesque, the role of nostalgia in shaping perception, and the tension between what is preserved, imagined, or lost. Her work often engages directly with public space, inviting audiences to reconsider how environments are constructed and experienced.

Over the past two decades, Ellen’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Whitney Biennial, the Barnes Foundation, Turner Contemporary, and the Chicago Architecture Center. She has also created large-scale public artworks for sites such as the Miami Beach Convention Center, Queens Plaza subway station in New York, and San Francisco International Airport Grand Hyatt. Her practice moves fluidly between institutional settings and everyday environments, often blurring the line between observer and participant.

A central thread in her work is how tourism and cultural narratives shape what is visible and valued in a place. Projects such as The Disappointed Tourist series, which documents lost or inaccessible sites suggested by the public, reflect on the gap between expectation and reality, and on what disappears as places evolve. Her work raises questions that resonate beyond art: who defines the story of a place, what is left out, and how those decisions influence both experience and memory.

At CRH, Ellen brings a critical lens on place, perception, and representation. Her perspective helps surface how hospitality shapes not just physical environments, but the narratives that surround them. In a field where guest experience is often carefully curated, her work challenges assumptions about authenticity, visibility, and what it means for a place to be genuinely experienced and responsibly represented.

Ellen has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, and the Wivina Demeester Prize for Commissioned Public Art. She holds degrees from Harvard College and Yale Law School, and completed the Whitney Independent Study Program.