Ethel Shipton: Listening to Berlin I Ruiz-Healy Art

Essay by Norma Elia Cantú, Ph. D.
2020

Inspired by her 2017-2018 Blue Star Contemporary Berlin Residency, Ethel Shipton’s solo exhibition at Ruiz-Healy Art will be set in Berlin. While in residence at the Künstlerhaus Bethanian, Shipton took interest in the street art and graffiti culture throughout the city. “I started taking pictures of the graffiti, and the graffiti took me to look at other parts of the city that were interesting to me. So, it was a combination of starting with the graffiti and walking through [Berlin],” shared Shipton. The visual information spray-painted throughout the city defines a cultural manifesto of freedom, unification, and community.