Emily Rose

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​The power of memory, healing, and narrative are all reflected in my multimedia art. My work explores the emotional, physical, and psychological effects of the colonial relationship between the US and the Caribbean and its diaspora. I explore how identities are formed, rejected, and erased to build a sense of belonging and community. I use familial oral stories, found objects, and unconventional materials to uplift stories, people, places, and events. In my paintings, figures appear in lush landscapes and domestic interiors to invoke one’s imagination, senses, connections, and possibilities to create new meanings of identity and home. The unconventional materials found in my work are coconut husks, shells, rice, beans, chairs, fabric, tropical fruit, and beads. Influenced by familial oral stories around migration, sense of belonging, life, and loss, I repurpose found objects and revisit physical and metaphorical spaces through collective memories and dreams to remember and heal the past, present, and forgotten parts of ourselves.

Emily Rose (b. 1994) is a Puerto Rican-American multidisciplinary artist. Her work addresses the legacy of colonialism and its impact on the Caribbean diaspora, particularly the effects of ancestral trauma. She focuses on identity, memory, home, and healing through research, visual art, and performance. She explores how identities are formed, rejected, and erased to build a sense of belonging and community. Repurposing associated objects of memory and family photographs, she evokes one’s imagination, senses, connections, and healing. As part of her artistic practice, she revisits physical and metaphorical spaces through collective memories and dreams as a medium to remember the past, present, and forgotten parts of ourselves.
Emily Rose is a recipient of the Opportunity Fund, the Wagner Impact Studio Award, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grants for Creative Individuals, and the Boston Media Arts Empowerment Award. Emily Rose has participated in residencies at the Boston Center for the Arts and Kala Art Institute. Group exhibitions of her work include Jean McDonough Arts Center, REC's YouthGROW Farm, Elevated Thought, ShowUp Inc., Essex Art Center, Stevens-Coolidge House and Garden, The Urbano Project, and Boston Arts Academy. Publications of her work can be found in Raandoom, Boston Art Review, and Artscope.