Emily Nam [b. 1984 Australia + living in New York City] is a research-based interdisciplinary artist, whose practice encompasses painting, documentation, design and critical inquiry. As an innovative problem solver, Emily applies an integrative approach to building projects and outcomes that document experience—(as autonomous bodies of work) to expand possibilities for participation, and an understanding of the human condition.
She is host of the artist conversation series We Are Art People [2024-], and her field recording project WAHDUWAH was broadcast on Soho Radio London [2022-2024]. She founded and designed SWETE (sweat) [2013-2018]—an environmentally-conducive garment collection Leisurewear 001, in response to an urgency for dialogue around sustainable and social working practice. Please read: Live Smart, Think Thoughtfully [2017].
Participating across multiple disciplines and communities has provided Nam with a unique and comprehensive understanding of experimental process and visual communication. Artwork and projects have been featured in and designed for print publication, radio broadcast and music video, and in curatorial projects; in North America, Australia, UK and Asia.
●Projects have been featured in/with:
The New York Times
Vogue
Dazed Korea
POP Magazine
Hyperallergic
Zoo Magazine
NTS Radio
Soho Radio London
i-D Magazine
The World of Interiors
Hyukoh World Tour
82 Major M/V
We Are Art People
DUMBO Improvement District
●Education
New York Studio School, NY — MFA Painting 2018
RMIT, Australia — B.Design(Fashion. Hons) 2010
Parsons School of Design, NY — Integrated Design Curriculum, study abroad 2008
The University of Melbourne, Australia — B.Sci(Biomedical Anatomy + Physiology) 2006
●Awards
2026 NYCxDESIGN Award Honoree
2025 NYCxDESIGN Award Winner
2016-2018 Milton and Sally Avery Award, New York Studio School
2011 Design Now! Top 8 Emerging Designers, Australia
●Selected Residencies
2025 Camp, EVP with CM Von Hausswolff/Michael Esposito, Pyrenees, France
2023-2025 Two Trees CSSP Recipient, Dumbo, BK
2021-2022 New York Studio School Post-Graduate Residency, Dumbo, BK
2018 Camp, Experimental Composition with Eli Kezler, Pyrenees, France
●Artist Statement
My work is an interdisciplinary practice that examines color, form, and sound as systems for decision making and nonverbal documentation. Drawing from ethnographic considerations, I approach color as both material and cognitive structure—mixed, layered, and experienced—using it as a method of notation to register movement, duration, and spatial relationship. Painting operates as a score rather than an image, where pattern and shape are stacked and juxtaposed to generate rhythm, tension, and correspondence. Through research, ritualized process and haptic engagement with materials, each surface develops through accumulation and erasure. Retaining evidence of a search rather than a resolution. Works function as microcosmic maps that invite navigation and position perception as an active process shaped by proximity, repetition, and sensory attention.
For artwork enquiries and collaborations, please email emilynamstudio[a]gmail.com.
All artwork and photography are copyrighted and protected under international copyright laws. Artwork may not be replicated or reproduced in any form without prior permission.