My name is Emmarose Heath and I’m an artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I enjoy creating both commercial products like prints and stickers, as well as large scale paintings and drawings. Most of my work is either created digitally using Adobe Photoshop, with acrylic paint and watercolor, or some combination of several mediums and techniques. I also love thrifting and finding secondhand goods, and recently have started focusing on upcycling found materials and using them to create something entirely new.
 

I create work that seeks to express and understand my experience of existence, and my complicated feelings about existing as a young woman growing up in the 21st century. I’m 21 years old and grew up with the internet at my fingertips. My generation was among the first to have full internet access in our homes, usually from a very young age, and I believe that this affected us more deeply than we may realize. We have been bombarded our entire lives with impossible beauty standards and social pressure constantly, and I think that this has left us with a collective trauma, particularly surrounding our conceptions of beauty and our self-esteem. To me, beauty does not exist without pain, and that is what I aim to depict in my art. It is a coping mechanism for my own trauma, and I try to examine and convey the duality of beauty and pain to create a world which I would like to exist within. I turn to art not only as a way to heal myself and take control, but also in an attempt to relate to others, especially other young women.

 

My art is usually bright and oversaturated, and my style is both graphic in some ways and painterly in others. Recurring imagery in my work includes the lotus flower, eyes, cut off limbs and distorted bodies. While all of these bring symbolic meaning and value, my art does not rely on meaning to be understood. In fact, I often do not like to describe the ‘meaning’ of my art, I would rather it be a vessel for people to apply their own meaning to. Some have described my work as an expression of healing and love, while others describe it as more dark. I welcome all interpretations. If others are able to find something in it that resonates with them, then I’ve done my job as an artist. 

 

I’m currently studying studio art and psychology at the University of New Mexico, and will graduate in 2022 with a dual degree in both subjects. My career goal is to make a living selling my art and vending at events across the country, but I’m also considering continuing my education to become a therapist or social worker. In my free time I enjoy reading, playing video games, and hanging out with my dog. If you’d like to check out my work, you can find me on instagram @artbypapergirl or on my personal website, www.emmaroseheath.com.