resident: Rowan Ellis

Ping-Pong is welcoming Rowan Ellis as our next resident! Rowan is a writer and researcher, known for her educational online content and advocacy work in the LGBTQ+ community.

Her debut book for teen girls “Here and Queer: A Queer Girl’s Guide To Life” is out now. 

Rowan produces long form video essays on YouTube about LGBTQ+ issues, representation, and pop culture - exploring everything from movie trope deep dives to lesser known moments of queer history.

During the residency, Rowan will develop a new creative project that expands on their ongoing research into AI and human relationships, particularly how ideas of emotion, empathy, and intimacy are framed through the lens of marginalisation. In recent video essays, Rowan has explored historical perceptions of “human robots,” from asexual and aromantic individuals to autistic people whose sensory and emotional experiences have been misunderstood or excluded.

At Ping-Pong, Rowan plans to extend these reflections through fiction writing, bringing a more speculative and poetic dimension to their inquiry. By looking beyond dominant narratives, often centred on cis, straight, white women in popular depictions of AI relationships, Rowan seeks to reimagine the boundaries of connection, personhood, and care.

We’re excited to host Rowan at Ping-Pong and look forward to sharing Rowan’s work with our community.

Can't wait? You can see Rowan’s work in the links below.

Instagram: instagram.com/heyrowanellis

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCniXurp_3xcDh923eiqGX3w