BFA, Studio Art (Print & Narrative Forms) 

emmaericksonart@gmail.com
eeerickson.co/
https://www.instagram.com/emma.ericksonart/

Artist Statement

In her series, Residing Between, Emma Erickson works with moments of disconnect felt between photographs and memories.  

Beginning with a photograph from her family archive, Erickson utilizes the medium of the monotype to allude to the idea of the deterioration of memories captured within the photographs. By adding or subtracting ink with various tools, such as utilizing both ends of the paintbrush, the image is worked and reworked until it comes to life. The plate is then repeatedly printed until all the ink is gone, leaving behind what is called a ghost image. Erickson’s work makes use of these transitions and “in-betweenness”. A monotype resides somewhere in between a drawing, a painting, and a print, and the medium’s flexibility connects meaningfully to her use of memory and loss, offering a faded remnant of the original family photo. 

Through monotypes, prints, and artist books, Erickson explores the interpretation of memory in relation to the history of those she never got the chance to meet. The ambiguity of the figures and narrative forms a connection between the imagined and the actual, the misremembered and the reality.