Emily Monforte is a queer photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 2018 with a degree in Fine Art with a concentration in photography. Her work often explores the fantasy of making real people into characters of her imagination. She obsesses about what hides behind the walls of unassuming homes, and does everything she can to get a peek behind them. Her work has been published by i-D Italy, stop.gap journal, featured on Life Framer’s artist collection page, and exhibited by Cluster London.
Near Convergence
Near Convergence depicts a series of strangers the artist meticulously scouted. Each portrait in the series is partially constructed, ranging from control of clothing choice all the way to the subject’s facial expression and bodily positioning. The artist has molded each subject into the character she envisioned them to be when she initially found them, not necessarily as the person they are or self-identify as. Viewers may feel distant from the humanity of each person due to the partial artifice of each life captured here. You may nearly know the people photographed, but a degree of separation lies between you and them, forcibly inserted by the artist, making it impossible to know them completely. Yet the goal of these portraits is not for you to know who they are, rather it is about the rare and odd pleasure of composing and then consuming a fantasy of the life the artist believes her subject to live.
To view more of Emily Monforte’s work please visit their website.