Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmanuelle Glazier

Emmanuelle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

My name is Emmanuelle Glazier, and I am a visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY, originally from Bucks County, PA. I’m interested in creating thought-provoking imagery through art direction, photography, video, drawing, and painting. The themes that interest me most center around femininity, family attachment, emotional tension, perceived ideals, hope, rebirth, beauty, and strength. I draw on my experiences as a woman, raised within Orthodox Judaism, a Moroccan-American, a lesbian, and integrating frictional elements of my identity. Aesthetically, I’m influenced most by classical arts.

My artistic journey began in childhood, where I dabbled in oil painting, drawing, singing, and writing. Like many introverted young artists, I could often be found daydreaming and losing track of time analyzing the world around me. In many ways, being an artist is just how I’m wired and how I experience the world. I’m constantly picking up on subtleties, shifts in energy, observing my surroundings, and experiencing my emotions deeply.

I grew up in a religious household and attended Jewish schools up until college. We were “Modern Orthodox,” which essentially means we kept kosher, observed Shabbat and all the holidays, and went to synagogue every Saturday morning. My family was not visibly religious, we wore “normal” clothes, engaged in the world, lived in a regular town, and fit into secular society. However, in high school, I went to a more religious all-girls school where the dress code was to wear skirts below my knees and shirts that covered both my collar bone and elbows. While religious environments tend to get a bad rap, I had no qualms with my upbringing. In fact, I really enjoyed the sense of community and belonging I had. We were secular enough where religion didn’t feel oppressive. If anything, it was a nice balance between living life in alignment with a higher purpose, having a focus on deeper life concepts and values, building one’s character, while also fully engaging in the world around me. To this day, I feel like the relationships I made then continue to be some of the deeper ones I have.

However, of course I wouldn’t be sharing this if it didn’t somehow tie into my art; about a year into high school is when I first began to reconcile with conflicting aspects of my identity, which later became the framework for my artistic inspiration.

I feel like nowadays “coming out” stories feel so trite. Regardless, it’s a significant part of my influence. I came into my own right at the cusp of when being gay was culturally becoming mainstream and acceptable, in my circles anyway. As a teenager, the realization that I was different hit me like a ton of bricks. I quickly discovered I was a lesbian and the absolute, all-encompassing feeling of disappointment, fear, and shame was unbearable. I knew deep down my life would not look like those of my friends and peers — and of those in my family who came before me — and I couldn’t picture how that would manifest. I felt connected to and a fondness toward the lifestyle I had, and I tried to “pray the gay away,” redirect my focus, and become more religious, in an effort to make it stop. Naturally, none of that worked, and it took several more years to accept my reality. Culturally, people in western society are now praised for coming out and there’s a real reason why. For those of us who are not fortunate enough to have supportive families and communities, coming out can mean losing friends, family, community, opportunities, and financial security. Sure, I could have faked my way through the rest of my life, but that’s no way to live. With time, I grew apart from that level of religiosity, since I didn’t feel like it quite fit anymore. But it was a difficult transition. My future felt like one dark, scary fog. Like I mentioned previously, I have an affinity and profound bond to the lifestyle I had. I have deep emotional ties to many of the values and traditions I grew up with and I don’t reject where and who I come from at all. Becoming an adult was more about figuring out how I integrate multiple, somewhat conflicting aspects of who I am.

Growing up, I never considered pursuing art professionally. Society has a way of discouraging us sensitive souls from taking such risks with our futures. However, after numerous years in college switching majors and feeling unfulfilled, I decided to enroll in a photography class out of curiosity.

What began as an experiment quickly blossomed into a profound passion, leading me to pursue photography professionally. It was the first and only time in my life where I spent most of my days immersed in developing my creativity and artistic voice. I finally felt like I had an outlet to create tangible beauty out of reconciling with my identity. I loved being a woman, in all its complexity, and got to explore that, particularly in my Returning The Gaze series. I weaved in my resonance with the timelessness of classical and traditional arts, using that aesthetic symbolically to represent the beauty I see in being part of a long and rich lineage in my Heritageseries. Art has allowed me to find peace and meaning in grappling with the psychological and spiritual challenges that come along with self-discovery, ultimately embracing the beauty of this ever-changing human experience.

I often reminisce on that time of self-realization as an artist, and how much joy and alignment I felt. I rapidly excelled in my classes, ultimately earning an award and scholarship to attend School of Visual Arts in NYC. I completed my BFA there and have been working in the photography industry ever since.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

While I’m fortunate enough to have a career in my industry, my photography skills are mostly applied to corporate projects. The focus is on precision and high-volume productivity. One of the main challenges I face daily is mustering up the energy to then sit down after a long day or week and work on personal projects. I’m only getting older, and my time and mental capacity is increasingly limited.

The consequence of not having a consistent personal art routine is that it’s difficult to stay inspired and continue developing my artistic voice. For me, the primary component to fostering ideas and executing them is having large spans of time and clarity of mind to ruminate, explore, and experiment. I feel frustrated by this lack all the time. From the moment inspiration strikes to when I can act on it, the flame goes out.

Ultimately, art reflects identity. Amid the busyness of daily life, I tend to cling to the artistic expressions of my youth. However, I realize that I’m not that same person anymore. I’m now 30 years old and my lifestyle has drastically and rapidly changed. I’ve transitioned from an adolescent to full-time working adult. I’ve gotten married and am currently pregnant with our first child, a little girl. I’m no longer just me, roaming around in the world. I’m someone’s wife and soon-to-be someone’s mother. Especially given all the inner turmoil that led me here, it’s such an exciting and profound time and I’m eager to explore that in my art. I feel like I’m re-discovering who I am, and my art hasn’t caught up yet.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I’m a visual artist specializing in fine art photography. I’m most known for conceptual portraiture centered around women. I’m most proud of my Heritage series. While I received mixed reactions to it, I feel it was a creative interpretation of some of the challenges I experienced coming of age in a traditional household while reconciling my personal identity. I think what sets me apart is my affinity towards more classical arts in a time where activism and rebellion towards traditionalism is the hot trend. I just want to create beautiful pieces that are personally meaningful and relatable rather than using my art to support broader social issues that I feel less connected to.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?

I’ve learned that perfectionism truly is the killer of creativity. It’s critical to shut off all the voices of comparison, judgment, and doubt in my head. All they do is paralyze me. Countless times in my life, I’ve gone through long creative droughts simply because I continuously dismissed my ideas before I even tried to execute them. I tend to crumble under the pressure I put on myself to create something remarkable. In reality, art is just a practice. It’s something one chooses to work on little by little over time. Just like life can feel mostly mundane, so too can art. There’s nothing wrong with simply practicing and experimenting without some elusive grand purpose. During those sessions, we build our skills and expand our minds, even when it doesn’t feel like it. So, when we’re blessed with big moments, we feel capable.

Another big lesson I’ve learned is to not pigeonhole myself into one theme, style, or medium. It’s natural and positive to develop a personal style, but if all I do is the same thing repeatedly, I get bored. Just because I’m good at something does not mean my artistic journey should end there. In fact, that’s the time to start challenging myself to try new things and be a student again. It’s imperative to not feel stagnant.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emmanuelleglazier.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmanuelleglazier/