Emily Nam [b. 1984 Australia] is a research-based interdisciplinary designer and painter, working in Brooklyn, New York; and founder of We Are Art People. Her vocabulary is elastic, incorporating paint, sound, textile and ethnographic documentation — in dialogue with location and non-verbal forms. Nam is an innovative problem solver, using systems of experimentation and process for learning.
Emily has presented work in New York City, Upstate New York, France, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Her artwork and projects has been included in The New York Times, Vogue, Dazed Korea, POP Magazine, Hyperallergic, Zoo Magazine, NTS Radio, Soho Radio London, i-D Magazine, The World of Interiors and in M/V for global artists including Hyukoh and 82 Major. Earlier experiences have included roles at Marc Jacobs Collection, Pop Magazine and British Vogue, undertaking a Fashion Features internship [2011]. Previously, through artwork, advertising campaigns and garment construction, Emily has been engaged in a dialogue to explore alternative systems for sustainable production and exchange in the garment industry (please read).
Emily received an MFA from the New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture and has completed undergraduate studies in BioMedical Anatomy [The University of Melbourne] and Integrated Fashion Design (Hons) [RMIT, Australia, receiving a HD for Honors Thesis & study abroad with Parsons The New School of Design, New York City].
Awards / Selected Residencies
2025 Camp, CM Von Hausswolff/Michael Esposito, Pyrenees, France
2023-2025 Two Trees CSSP Recipient, Dumbo, BK
2022 New York Studio School Post-Graduate Residency, Dumbo, BK
2016-2018 Milton and Sally Avery Award, New York Studio School
2011 Design Now! Top 8 Emerging Designers, Australia
Artist Statement
My practice is circular and oscillates at the edges of color/sound, language, community and ethnographic considerations - in dialogue with location and non-verbal forms. I am engaged in color research and I am interested in the possibilities of contending with color. My experience of color is transmitted through the sensory perceptions of touch, vision and audible listening. I make color compositions and I utilize the act of mixing oil paint, as my medium to access visual works.* Color decisions are made through strange and unusual processes. Stacked and colliding shapes serve as an armature for color and form to function, as mathematical melodies — rotating notations of location, movement, experience and sound. The mechanics of searching for an outcome and building form, layer upon layer, extrudes the final surface. *and field recordings as a medium to document sound, in location.
For artwork enquiries and collaborations, please email emilynamstudio@gmail.com.