Zavier Ellis 'We Are (Blue)', 2026 Acrylic, emulsion, spray paint, digital collage on gloss paper 29.7 x 21 cm (11.7 x 8.3 in)

In the We Are series, Zavier Ellis turns his research-led practice towards the World Cup, producing 11 unique works at £90 each to mark the 2026 event. As across his wider practice, layered historical iconography generates a dense internal symbolism — here rooted in the origins of the World Cup itself. 

We Are (Blue) brings together three layers of history into a single surface: Nike of Samothrace, the headless Greek goddess of victory who inspired the original Jules Rimet Trophy; the 1930 Uruguay World Cup squad, the first host and champions; and the ghost of Jules Rimet himself, the man who conceived the tournament from a conviction that football could redirect nationalism in a world still recovering from war. 

Worked over by hand with acrylic, emulsion, and spray paint, the piece draws on Ellis's sustained interest in the palimpsest of the urban wall — surfaces where public messages are constructed, obscured, and rewritten. Fragmented blue marker traces WE ARE across the composition, referencing Uruguay's national colour and the tournament's collective language. The Roman numerals MMXXVI anchor the base, marking the year the tournament reaches its largest form of 48 nations, expanded from the 13 who competed in Montevideo 96 years earlier. 

Each work is unique — one of XI hand-finished individually.