Ellis Bairstow is a photographic artist based in Glasgow. He graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2025, receiving the Steven Campbell Hunt Medal for his work. Ellis primarily works with photography, focusing on socio-economic and political issues connected to lived experience within design systems and architecture.

 

His current work explores Scottish housing, in particular the post-war tower blocks of Glasgow, an urban-planning phenomenon of the 1950s and 60s intended to address the national housing crisis. The work documents towers past and present, within communities that have been heavily affected by their presence. Through this ongoing research-driven practice, Ellis considers the social histories embedded within architecture and how these continue to shape contemporary Scottish life.