User:Emmaressel
Emma Ressel | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1994 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Bard College, University of New Mexico |
| Known for | Photography |
| Notable work | Olives in the street, Glass Eyes Stare Back |
| Website | www |
Emma Ressel (born 1994) is an American fine art photographer, based in Albuquerque, NM.
Early life and education
[edit]Ressel was born in Bar Harbor, Maine. She earned her B.A. in Photography from Bard College in 2016. She went on to study at the University of New Mexico where she will receive an M.F.A. in 2025.
Rachel Jump: What is the first really memorable experience you had with nature and/or an animal? How did this inform your practice later in life?
Emma Ressel: I grew up next to Acadia National Park in Maine and my dad always kept many tanks with reptiles in the house, so it is hard to remember my first experience. Once, when I was around 9 or 10, my dad drove my friend Rebecca and I pretty far to meet a guy who had a two-headed snake. It was a small, bright red milk snake with black and white rings and indeed two heads. I remember we got to take turns holding it and all took a lot of photos.
RJ: Is there a photograph or photographer who inspired you to consider pursuing a life in art?
ER: My high school photography mentor Emily Schiffer is very cool, and getting to know her really encouraged me with my photography. I took a class from her at Maine Media Workshops, we stayed in touch afterwards, and learning about her life and career probably inspired me to go further down this route.
Life and career
[edit]RJ: If you could pursue another career/path besides photography, what would that be?
ER: I don’t know. I often think that if I had a another career I was interested in that paid better, I should definitely do that instead of photography. Part of the reason I have made photography my main thing is that there is nothing else I can bear to do instead. But, my back up plan is going back to working in a bakery or running an ice cream shop.
RJ:Is there a creature, living or dead, that you aspire to photograph the most?
ER: I just photographed a species I had been wanting to photograph a long time, the Panamanian Golden Toad. The species went extinct in the 90s and served as an indicator for the mass extinction of frogs that has occurred since. Seeing specimens of extinct species feels very powerful for me. The remnants of recently extinct animals feels like looking back into the past. There is also a mournful quality to it. I read that extinction involves not only the death of the animal, but the death if its future.
RJ: What image that you have made do you feel like is the catalyst of your practice?
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ER: There is an image I made in Italy that when I look back at it now, feels like it was foreshadowing to my current work. The picture is of a cluster of pigeon feathers on a bed of red flowers, with an egg cracked in the middle. The clinical flash, the traces of animal death, and the dramatic, beautiful plant feel all like core elements of my work from the past 5-7 years.
Personal life
[edit]RJ: What has been your favorite taxidermied animal/fossil/specimen to witness and/or photograph?
ER: It’s difficult to say. Each one presents their own challenges to photograph. I guess I don’t think about my affinity to each one too much, and I think more about how the scenes I make with them are functioning in the narrative of the project. My favorite animal in general is definitely a horned lizard and I’ve made several photos of them, but I feel like I still have yet to make my best horned lizard photo.
RJ: Do you have pets? Do they get jealous that you spend so much time with other animals?
ER: I have a cat named Dandelion. He is the first mammal pet I have ever really bonded with and I now totally understand why people have animals. He has turned me into a total cat person. He goes indoor/outdoor and I worry about him killing birds and lizards. He doesn’t bring them to the doorstep, though, and this helps me suspend my disbelief. I brought home a taxidermied fox recently and Dandelion “met” the fox. He sniffed it lot. It was pretty awesome and weird to see that interaction.
RJ: If you could revive a specimen you’ve seen in the past, what would it be and why?
ER: I wish I could revive all the extinct species I have photographed!
RJ: What are some of your favorite podcasts?
ER: There are a couple comedy podcasts I adore: Las Culturistas, Straightiolab, and Poog For the news, I listen to: The Daily, Lovett or Leave It, sometimes Pod Save America And I love advice podcasts: NPR Life Kit, Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel, and the Savage Lovecast I strangely don’t listen to any photography podcasts! This is something I want to change.
Publications
[edit]RJ:What photo publications, whether print or online, do you dedicatedly follow?
ER: I follow Aperture fairly closely. I don’t read a lot of the articles but I keep tabs on who they’re showing. I really like Contact Sheet, and I used to pick up copies of Photograph Magazine at my old job. These days I’m probably only about 60% interested in current photography discourse, and I’m just as interested in finding inspirational threads through older photography. I love when I following breadcrumbs to find new work that resonates with me made from across time.
RJ: What is the most recent photo book you bought?
ER: Somewhere Along the Line by J Dudley Greer. I bought it from my friend who was selling a copy. I always think about making photographs of highway infrastructure when I am on long car drives, looking at and thinking about the road, but I’m not sure I’m the person to make that project. I feel like Greer made the exact book I was always hoping someone would make.
Exhibitions
[edit]RJ: Could you speak about your experimental approach to putting together exhibitions of your work?
ER: Yeah, this feels really new to me and I don’t have a ton of language around it yet. I know that I love artwork that feels immersive, and I the use of wallpaper is one of my favorite gestures of this. Farah Al Qasimi is one artist who has done this, and I love the effect. I also love how it plays with scale. Sara Cwynar also just posted photos of a show she had this fall where she used what looked like fabric instead of wallpaper, and it also looked fantastic.
RJ: What has been your favorite public showcase of your work, and why was it meaningful to you?
ER: My show at Strata Gallery this spring. That show was my first solo show I had, and I got to test out many of the gestures I had been thinking about for years. It was meaningful to me because I got good install shots of it, and friends and family came to see it.
References
[edit]RJ: If you could curate an exhibition of your work alongside other artists you admire, who would they be?
ER: Tanya Marcuse, Matt Hansel, Grace Rosario Perkins, Ballarama Heller, Dylan Hausthor. That would be such an odd show, but also my dream come true!
RJ: What other contemporary artists that you feel are making important work?
Stephanie Syjuco, Carmen Winant, Mark McKnight, Sara Cwynar, Joanna Piotrowska