Introducing Emily Franklin
Originally from Metro Detroit, Emily Franklin moved to Illinois in order to pursue her MFA in Photography and is currently a college photography instructor in the Chicago area. Her work has been exhibited nationally in a variety of shows including the 2013 Kinsey Juried Show, The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center4th Annual Contemporary Photography Competition and Exhibition, Emerge at the Midwest Center for Photography, and The 19th Juried Exhibition at TheGriffin Museum of Photography. In 2011 and 2012 she presented her research at the Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference as well as at the 2012 Mid America College Arts Association Conference. In addition to creating photography, she is also involved in ongoing photo theory and history research which stems from a lifelong love of books, philosophy and history. In her free time she can be found scouring estate sales for vintage finds, fabric, and books and travels whenever possible.
The main trajectory of her work lies in examining socially reinforced gender roles, especially those that are applied to ideas of identity as it relates to sexuality. Additionally, she is restructuring the system of mutual exclusivity that dominates our typical way of thinking, “if it is this, then it cannot be this,” and the limiting effects of this mindset in a world that is actually fluid and pliable. While being obviously staged in the controlled studio setting, her images take on a narrative quality that is an artifact of her long standing obsession with books.
