Em Hampton
(they/them)
I am a photographer, performance artist, director, and writer.
My art is often a reflection of my conflicted emotional response to subjects such as home, trauma, love, and loss of both oneself and other people. I look at the world around me, and I am infatuated with its subtle beauties and inherent ugliness. I view most things as impermanent, and yet seem to struggle with the experiences I’ve had that make an everlasting mark.
I started with what I knew the best, photography and performance. They were separate entities that, through my education at SUNY Purchase, I ended up combining. The result was what I say I practice: Visual Performance, or, telling a story through whatever form it takes. Now, my work isn’t bound by any specific medium. The finished product is an evolution of the initial idea. Most of the pieces I make come from extremely personal and emotional occurrences in my life, but can be related to the experience of those who have had to grow up too quickly due to the actions of other people. Making work about the events that have transpired throughout my life has helped me understand them better. Now I am starting to delve further, focusing on the idea of transition. I’m curious about movement through time, where I am going, where I have been, and how other people have shared that space. I’m looking forward to piecing together the versions of myself I’ve lost and reinvented, and hope my audience can relate to that search of self.
Education:
SUNY Purchase College (Class of 2019)
BA Visual Performance
Minors in Playwriting and Visual Arts (Concentration: Photography.)