Nostalgia and Distortion: Emma Hammond, Fine Art.

Eva Milne and Emma Thomson

The first instalment of our DJCAD Artist's Profiles has arrived. Last week we sat down with Emma Hammond, a 4th year Fine Art student whose amazing work is on show at this years degree show.

Hammond is a multimedia artist whose work explores nostalgia, memory, and the invisible connections we feel with people we’ve never met. Inspired by the loss of both her grandmothers before her birth, Hammond uses art to imagine and build emotional bridges to the past.

Image: Alexander Stewart

The Jute Journal (TJJ): Can you tell us a your work?

Hammond: “In my work I focus on memory, nostalgia, and the past. I use both of my grandmas, who passed before I was born, as my muses and my subject matter”.

“The whole idea of my work is looking at people I've never met and using them as a way of connecting through the process of art”.

“I wanted to use the process of lithography, (a process where an artist draws an image on a flat surface that repels the ink), screen printing, and leading as a process for storytelling. Then the collage comes into it too; I used roses and tulips to function as a more physical way of connecting with them”.

“And then the whole sculpture comes from seeing them as one unified figure. So the use of acetates and the fact that their see through allows them to blend and merge as this kind of one distorted person”.

What are your influences, artists or other?

I would say parts like in a major influence throughout my work, and artists such as Henrik Olesen and Sarah Davidman. Her work 'ken to be destroyed' was a major influence from the way that she looked at her family's past and archive photos and discovered this whole new personality and was able to create a story."

TJJ: What do you want people to take away from your work?

“I want people to look at it and be able to relate to the work and their own way. I just want them to be able to create their own story and their own narrative while looking at it”.

TJJ: Nice. How long did this whole take?

Hammond: "The whole year. The prints took the whole semester, and then I had to finish them off the next semester. Then the lithography and having them dry took a long time. Their three layered crates o there's two layers, one in green, one in black and then theirs the light grey layers and screen print. So I finished them at the start of this semester, and then I spent and every day making these cubes".

The immense work put into every single project on show at the degree show is applaudable. Hammond has spent the entire year curating her masterpieces and one can tell that so much hard work and love has been put into her work.

You can check out Emma's portfolio here for more information on her work!