Emily Bromberg is a painter and ceramic artist born and raised in New York, NY, and now based in Seattle, WA. She received her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design in 2017.
Her most recent body of work, For Your Convenience, combines paintings and ceramic vases in a reflection on her long term struggle with misdiagnosed and untreated Lyme Disease and mold illness. Creating visual representations of internal organs covered in ticks, infectious bacteria, intracellular parasites, and mold is a cathartic process through which she hopes to make visible what is often referred to as an invisible illness—a label that reflects the difficulty in accessing medical care and support when the patient’s appearance remains unchanged despite debilitating pain and other symptoms. Bandages on the vases signify hope and the potential for healing, once properly diagnosed and treated. The paintings are meditations on the psychological impacts of struggles with chronic illness and healthcare access. For Your Convenience is currently on display in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle through the Shunpike Storefronts program.
Nature, environment, and sustainability have been recurring themes in her previous work. In 2021, she created a mural for China Ranch Date Farm, a farm and small business in Death Valley, for which she combined elements of the regional landscape and various native plant and animal species to create a portrait of the ecosystem there. In 2020 through 2021 she completed a series of paintings called Compost based on her work managing farmer’s markets in New York City, in which she explored themes of sustainability in urban communities by painting the compost collection bin on site with its ever-changing mix of organic matter and compostable single-use packaging materials.
Rue du Moulin, a series of paintings from 2017, was created through a process of painting the home built by her grandfather in rural France once no longer inhabited. The paintings address themes of childhood, escapism, and the unreliable nature of memory as well as its ability to infuse magic into mundane experiences.
Publications