Emily Ryalls

Emily is a British photographer who centres her work around the theme of performative photography, often using herself as the subject. She focuses on 3 main concepts; Co-Production, Connectivity, Non-Exploitive and uses a Bronica medium format camera with a 35mm lens. Many of her series depict a frame by frame performance showing a flowing movement similar to video stills.

Please Take a Seat Series

Spilt Milk (shown above) presents a visualisation of something you can't see such as the saying "Let's not cry over spilt milk there's nothing wrong with you" which was repeated to Ryalls by medical professionals. She thoroughly experimented with this concept, combing doctors notes and testing different locations she felt connected to. She felt like she was always trying to make sense of the world which may have led to her rigorous experimentation of photographic ideas.

Collaborating with Tide Press, Emily created a zine that you could print at home during lockdown, making her work cheap and accessible to everyone with access to a printer. This also allowed the viewer to express their creativity building her zine themselves through binding, sequence and design. Emily continuously works to make photography an accessible career to local communities, working alongside independent organisations in Wakefield to build darkrooms and creative spaces.

Ryalls also shared a few tips for emerging photographers which were:

• Be money savvy

• Build a creative network

• Find a space where you have the freedom to be creative