Emily L. R. Adams

Region: MFA Annual

Using screenprinting techniques, I work with ink and motor oil to create photographic monoprints on a variety of surfaces, including canvas, fabric, glass, and wood. Drawn to lavish surfaces, I scratch, burn, or saturate the matrix to embellish and alter the nature of its surface. Introducing the portrait to such a landscape is integral to my style of expression. I am intrigued by identity and the visual representation of self. The portraits I use are those of people involved with subculture, who live outside the constructs of societal norms.

Borrowing and displacing the meaning of images and objects from the world around me (including photos from the media and nostalgic items), I adjust the information to reflect my sensibility. The images, objects, and materials become activated to create a new dialogue based on their relationship with each other. My act of removing the image from its origins illustrates a new vision of those elements that were once familiar, allowing the image, material, and process to result in a contained but unrestrained moment.