Emily Roberts-Negron
Reflection 2, Mirror film on glass, 2018
The female nude; the subject of much controversy and criticism.
In the art world, with the social climate making headway on the bias of sexism, the ascendance of #metoo and as women march worldwide to protect their body, mind and soul… what does the female nude represent? The discussion may now fall upon the creator, rather than the painted breasts, sculpted bodies and colorful personalities that have been depicted in fine art for ages. Can we differentiate the goddess from the crude, and vice versa? My intention is not immoral, and I am neither interested in exploiting myself nor my body. As a woman who feels creatively connected to the world, it is important to take risks to convey a message. Attune with the motive of Reflection 2, feminism can be fragile. This piece was the outcome of losing a sense of personal intimacy to a turbulent few years. The toxic dependence I felt left me empty, as my identity shifted. Seeking virtue, I spent hours studying myself, working directly on my own reflection. This particular process I used can be arduous, as I constantly adapt to the moving image in front of me while an endless threshold of emotion unfolds. Inevitably I found the delicate strength needed to be present again, and curiously proud to be female. Reflection 2 is the second in a series of ten. For me, it feels equally as introspective as it does a commentary on liberation. It is a self-portrait. It is vain. It is female reverence. It is new vocabulary, and the linear cuts made on my own reflection leave a kind of permanence, to be present again.
Illuminated by fields of layered light; adorned with unrefined folds, textures and transparencies; Emily sees her world through the abstraction of form and dimension. Stimulated by everyday nuances, her work pulls apart the discernible convention of her subject, wherein observation becomes an art. Her pieces elicit an awareness of spatial relationships, where the void is just as valuable as the object that created it. Emily is a multidisciplinary artist, whose vision typically calls for the immediate, and perceptive process of photography. Her current body of work uses varied tactile methods, as she investigates more personally rooted and cognitive themes.
B. 1988
Emily Roberts-Negron currently, lives and creates in the Hudson Valley, NY.
