This interview was originally featured on the Vessel Editions site.
I first came across Emily’s work on an Instagram post in which she was being praised for her Graduate work from The Royal Academy of Art by American Photography, Raymond Meeks. Since then, I’ve kept an avid eye on the young American’s work.
It’s evident whilst looking through either Emily’s Instagram or website that there’s a deep connection, understanding, and care of the bookform within her practice. Sadly, I’m yet to experience one of her books in person. I cannot wait for that time to come.
To find out a bit more about Emily and her practice I emailed over a few questions in the hopes of coaxing out some nuggets of inspiration and wisdom.
SC: Can you tell us about your latest body of work Unblossomed Hydrangeas?
EJR: This series started as a final research project for my bachelors study at The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. By first writing my thesis ‘A Stray Stone’ I was able to collect my [almost unreasonably ungraspable and non-visual] intrigues of Chaos Theory and the passing of time. Writing this paper played a vital role in not just this project but, I might say, my whole photographic practice. It has helped me in understanding, formulating and translating the lens through which I view the world.
In ‘A Stray Stone’ I relate time to art in many ways. I express that our perception of time is not that of all [what I call] experiencers. I touch on the relationship of photography and mortality. I share my perspective of the Earth and all of its elements being a singular entity. And I press on how every event, movement, and experience lends its hand in shaping the world as we know it.
Through writing, I was able to find an anchor or [what I call] visual manifestation for my ideas. I remembered something that in Dutch is called ‘Zwerfsteenen’. In English this translates to Stray stones, or perhaps better known as ‘Erratic Boulders’. These are large pieces of Earth that have been picked up and transported within glacial land ice during the last Ice Age - specifically the Saale glaciation. Once the glaciers receded, they set these monstrous boulders and rocks down in their new homes, sometimes thousands of miles from their Mother rock. I decided that these were the perfect way to represent the passing of time and the unexpected chain of events that shape how life pans out as it forever inches forward. Chaos in the flesh.
From here I started photographing. I traveled from The Netherlands to Sweden, following the path that these stones took in their slow and icy journey away from their antecedent resting place.
SC: Could you tell us about some key bodies of work (photographic or other) that have influenced your work?
EJR: Specifically for this project, I remember I spent a lot of time with Ana Zibelnik’s ‘We are the Ones Turning’, which I admire for its interpretation of our relationship with mortality which I wrote a lot about in my thesis. Sally Mann’s ‘Battlefields’, which I gained a greater appreciation for after reading her autobiography ‘Hold Still’ in which she shares more on her perspective of the land holding on to its experience. Ray Bradbury’s short story ‘The Sound of Thunder’ was with me throughout the whole process. And not particularly tied to a body of work but I cannot go without mentioning, Raymond Meeks, who I got to learn from during an internship, taught me a great deal about the importance of care and intention when giving a photograph shape in the world.
SC: And something away from the arts that have influenced your work?
It is nice that you ask about influence because that is a major focus point for me, in life in general. I find myself sometimes overly aware of how I contribute to the greater world around me. My decisions, my impact, my movement. So to answer your questions in a very annoying way… Everything influences my work. Every little thing that I have experienced up until this point has shaped my perspective and position in the world and has led me to share with you this body of work about how stones can remind us of this very thing - What we have been through has brought us to where we find ourselves right here and now!
SC: What part does the bookform play in your work?
EJR: Using the form of a book came naturally to me during this project. I have a very tactile way of working, preferring my images to hold a form in the world. With a book I am able to incorporate all that informed this train of thought. I am able to set a pace and a tone through materials and negative space. It gives me more control. Since this project was informed by ideas that I originally formulated through words, I felt that this could not be completely disregarded in the project as a whole. It needs both the text and the images to be a complete thought. As a book I am able to control the introduction of text. I can give out information in a particular order - Although I must say that just because a book is thought to be read from front cover to back, this is rarely how (specifically a photobook) is interacted with. This rebellion of expected behavior just adds a personal layer for the individual reader. Each time it can be different to page through the book - Which I think only supports the notion of life being a series of intrinsically unpredictable circumstances that I hope to express with this project.
SC: Does translating work made for the book to the wall come easily to you?
EJR: It did not at first, I avoided this step, when it came to presenting it at my graduation, until the very end. The most important aspect of my space ended up being the translation of the project in the form of four unique books. These books could be interacted with on a table in the middle of the room. It was then [at least for me] less about the wall and more about the personal connection that could be experienced while paging through the books. The books being made entirely of pages taken from old books, are quite fragile and require a bit of delicacy to be paged through. I set out a pair of white gloves along with each book and this unexpectedly brought an element of commitment and focus to the interactions that took place, which is exactly what I felt that this project should do, adjust pace and bring an awareness to participation. All of this being said - translating this all onto the wall was tricky for me. I tried to keep it simple with beautiful dark-wood frames made by Goedman Lijsten here in The Hague [who I adore] to allow the images to be unobscured by other elements that accompany them in the books. And I made sure that the text also showed its importance alongside the images, presenting it also within frames or behind glass.
SC: Where do you see your work moving next?
EJR: The thing that I like about working with this project so far is that it is constantly showing me how it can be reshaped and transformed both in a space and as an object. I recently made a small run of handmade books which sold out faster than I expected! My hope is to publish a larger run of some translation of this project so that more people get the chance to take it in at their own pace (and in their own order ;) ) and to continue to display the work in new spaces. Understanding and reflecting on our impact and influence in the world is something that I think we could use more of in this time where we are faced, more blatantly than ever, with the consequences of our ignorance of it.