emelisecreating

[emelisecreating]

aegis(us): a moving image refuge

including installed versions of divina mersa, cavea sanctus, and conduit as well as an altar space curated using dead florals, mirrors, taper candles, ancestral candelabrum, chalice of salt, jars of damiana leaf, mugwort, and calendula, sage bundle, zebra jasper, black tourmaline, and fossilized dragonfly, 2023

aegis(us), Em Elise's undergraduate thesis and debut solo exhibition, serves as a psycho-spiritual testament to feminine endurance and holistic body reclamation. Aegis, /ējǝs/, being an emblem of protection, and us, a community bound by collective belonging. "Protect us." How does the body act as a conduit? When might the mundane become mystic? What happens when we slow down and surrender to the intuitive rhythms of the (super)natural world? Fueled by Elise's tender affinity for sacred corporeal movement, nostalgic image making processes, and the liberation of rebirth, aegis(us) invites viewers to bathe in contemplation of the relationship between physical and energetic phenomena.

[emelisecreating]

conduit

film stills, archival + found footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

conduit

archival + found footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

conduit [full length]

archival + found footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

divina mersa

dv footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

divine drowning

film stills, dv footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

anniversaire in the solstice sun

instax, 2022

[emelisecreating]

heartbeats on instant film

instax, 2022

[emelisecreating]

heartstitch

installation reminiscent of the clothesline and domestic space using instax scans inkjet printed on silk habotai, safety pins, thread, 2022

heartstitch serves as a tender whirlwind of intimacy and absence, a bittersweet ode to a meteoric love affair, cosmic connection, meeting of mirrored souls. The series pulls from a collection of instax wide photographs I shot while living and working in Denmark during the summer months of 2022. The images are printed on distressed edge cuts of silk habotai, the lustrous fabric mimicking the soft delicacy of a lover’s skin, fragility of relationships, fleeting nature of infatuation, and the painful yet inevitable change that comes with the passage of time. Embroidered line work, white thread, and safety pins allude to abrasion and healing as the tattered texture of paper and blurred handwriting in the scanned journal entry parallel lacerated skin and expressions of longing and nostalgia. While heartstitch primarily seeks to cleanse and pay homage to a kind of psychic love wound, it also commemorates the emotional, bodily, and spiritual liberation and empowerment I experienced through traveling alone as a young woman with a history of domestic abuse and sexual violence. 

[emelisecreating]

spoonfed

performance using dinner table, place settings, cutlery, champagne flutes,  candelabra, lingerie, duration: 7 minutes, 2023

[emelisecreating]

sin-new

performance stills, heat transfer printed wedding dress, archival images, candles

[emelisecreating]

mementos memori

film stills, archival footage, dv footage, 2022

[emelisecreating]

memoriam

archival footage, mini dv footage, archival audio

[distorted sound: threnody by goldmund]

[emelisecreating]

holy cage

film stills, hi8 footage, 2023

[emelisecreating]

cavea sanctus

hi8 footage, 2023

[distorted sound: why do you love me? by cocteau twins and harold budd]

[emelisecreating]

touching you felt like birth and death and the ecstasy in between

scanned journal entry, 2022

[emelisecreating]

headrush

archival footage, 2022

[distorted sound: limerence by yves tumor]