Ella Merriman is an artist, based in London, who uses the endangered craft of rush basketry to create works that focus on our dissociation from the natural world.

She discovered rush basketry in the midst of struggling with eczema flares, allergies and topical steroid withdrawal and the weaving process brought her an immense feeling of inner peace. Whilst her body was aggravated, she was able to find an internal quiet through weaving with rush stems and her work embraces this sense of calm.

Each sculpture gently encourages the viewer to remember the beauty and intricacies of our natural world and to rediscover a deep respect for nature-given, native materials. When Ella works with rush, she expresses a feeling of awakening an ancestral memory and she describes her process of creation as a collaboration between the artist and material. Ella harvests her rush, by hand, in Somerset and believes that joining her rush stems on the journey from river to artwork deepens her admiration for its capabilities. Her work aims to spark memories and bring the joy and hope to her audience that she has found in her creation process.