Emily van Lidth de Jeude
Social practice artist Emily van Lidth de Jeude works primarily in graphite, oil, and installation. Emily is a synaesthete, meaning that she sees sound and emotion as colours, shapes and movement in her visual field. She uses this unique perspective to enable her to depict the emotional nature of the subject matter she explores. As a member of a family of storytellers and ballad singers, her work is informed by story from her own experience as well as others’. Emily goes to great lengths to interview subjects and gather stories in preparation for her work, even using donated and reclaimed household items as a foundation for her work. She states that these used items already carry a story of their own, which she then builds upon. Emily’s childhood was spent in the rural community of Nex̱wlélex̱wm/Bowen Island, in Canada, surrounded by temperate rain forest and inland fjords of the Salish Sea. At seventeen, she left to work and study, both at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in the Netherlands as well as at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. Upon receiving her BFA, she dedicated herself to parenting and teaching, following her passion for explorative learning as she unschooled her two children, developed various art and wilderness programs, and pursued her visual art career. Emily's experience of raising children became very influential in her career, pushing her to concentrate on work that gives voice to women, children, and caregivers, especially. The first project of distinction in Emily’s career was the MAMA Project, which toured the west coast, receiving official endorsement from UN Women Canada. In 2018 she completed a short residency at the Goleb Project Space in Amsterdam, where her interview-based two-channel video installation, w h a t . h o m e, received much positive feedback. Currently she is deeply committed to her projects (dis)robe, Songs of the Apocalypse, and change/able, all of which explore the evolution of self and society.
