Emma Sheehy creates imaginative spaces that are escapist, funny and folkloric. They are filled with a somewhat weaponised naïveté. Often drawing upon medieval-inspired imagery, she builds up a collection of creatures to play with again and again in paintings and sculptures. Emma’s work is influenced by pre-modern polytheistic mythologies, medieval manuscripts and awkward public interactions.
Emma uses her research as a means of understanding the present. Her impish creatures complicitly smile at our contemporary moment and the repeating patterns we find ourselves in. They seek to communicate that to love is a freedom from pain.
Making work that privileges love has influenced Emma’s commitment to producing sculpture that is sustainably minded – mostly out of wood and carefully sourced materials.