Ember Galvan

As someone who has struggled to understand their own identity and purpose in this world, my work revolves around the mental and emotional states of being. Much of my work is inspired by personal struggles like isolation, self-doubt, anxiety, and depression. I strive to create a dreamlike world in each of my images that feels detached from reality yet tethered to viewers as individuals. I use my work to recreate and represent my thoughts, emotions, dreams, and struggles in my everyday life to try and understand them better. I feel that as I grow as an artist my work more clearly represents what I feel. I have worked with experimental darkroom and digital techniques and shoot primarily in black and white. These processes help me to explore and create the deep and abstract imagery in my head. One of the biggest inspirations behind my work is a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” My main goal is to create work that reflects my life journey. I feel that when I put my struggles center stage, and face them, I can better understand them and grow as a person.