Ellie Ellison (MFA 2029) is a multimedia surrealist painter with a BFA in Drawing and Illustration from the University of Central Florida. Originally from Henderson, Nevada, she has worked as a contracted illustrator for over five years throughout Florida and Nevada. Ellison’s work combines the absurdist philosophy amor fati (to lovingly and happily embrace one's fate) with her lived experience as a survivor of suicide loss. Since losing her parents to natural and unnatural causes, the frightening unpredictability of death plays a large part in her life and work. Through her paintings depicting allegorical narratives, she attempts to circumvent hopelessness by relating to other survivors through genuine and honest portrayals of grief.