Ruth Ewan works across installation, performance, text, print and socially engaged practice, creating works that uncover overlooked histories and challenge dominant narratives. Drawing from archival research, political movements and acts of collective resistance, Ewan often reactivates forgotten stories, transforming historical material into experiences that feel immediate and alive. Her work moves fluidly between past and present, revealing how ideas around labour, power, protest and social change continue to shape contemporary life.
Rather than presenting history as something fixed, Ewan treats it as an active and evolving force. Whether through sound, public interventions or large-scale installations, her works invite viewers to reconsider the systems and structures that quietly organise everyday life, balancing rigorous research with an accessible and deeply human approach.
26 May 2026 • Mark Westall
Ruth Ewan’s The Dagenham Agates will honour the Ford sewing machinists whose historic strikes helped shape the Equal Pay Act.
19 February 2024 • Mark Westall
The seven artists shortlisted for the next Fourth Plinth commissions in 2026 and 2028 have been announced today
23 March 2015 • Tabish Khan
This week’s top 6 features Henry Moore, beautiful birds, an organic calendar, a minotaur, voyages to the Arctic and surrealism
1 March 2012 • Mark Westall
Ed Atkins, Omer Fast, Ruth Ewan, Dani Gal, Glenn Ligon, Mary Reid Kelley, Anri Sala, Alexandre Singh and Ryan Trecartin.
24 August 2011 • Mark Westall
Artist Ruth Ewan and composer Kerry Andrew unlocked the imaginations of a group of around 40 members of the Laburnum… Read More
