Emily Mulenga
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Emily Mulenga is a UK based mixed media artist.[1] Her work draws from video games, cartoons, and internet culture to create themes of post-capitalism, the condition of being a millenial, feminism, anxiety, apathy, and race. Her work is known to blur the lines between the virtual and the tangible, fragmenting identities and projecting them onto video game characters, avatars, and online identities.[2] Born in the same year as the internet, and as a digital native, her output is a result of extensive media consumption, pulling from the classic characters of the 90s and early 2000s, early playstation games, online videos, and social media posts by online contacts. Much of her art looks to be in the form of hyperpop memes, which reach a certain demographic, such as younger Millennials and Gen Z. Her work also takes the form of short videos, which are full of cityscapes, bright colors, materialism, and electronic dance music.[3]
Much of her art depicts either IMVU characters in either fantasy or real life scenarios. Another commonly seen character is the pink bunny, which is seemingly meant to represent a less innocent version of childhood cartoons.
Inspired by the bright neon and hightech Cyberpunk and Citypop aesthetics, Mulenga pulls from the social and economic prosperity and optimism present during the birth of these two aesthetics to create futuristic pieces with dystopian, sometimes apocalyptic themes, that force us to confront our constanding evasion of current events happening in front of us.[4] She further considers how technology and the blurring of humanity and machine has changed the experience of womanhood, and how becoming a cyborg is both a matter of fantasy and reality, futuristic, and presently possible.[5]
Education[edit]
Emily Mulenga earned her BA in Fine Arts from Birmingham City University in 2013.[6] During the first half of her undergraduate career, her art was primarily physical using traditional mediums. Halfway throuhg her career, she decided to start experimenting with digital art, specifically videography and animation[1]. Then, Emily recieved her MA in fine arts from Chelsea College of Arts in London in 2019, where she incorporated video and digital technology as well as analog media[6]. To further her education and earn her MA, she recieved the Frank Bowling scholarship, which allowed her to "further her creative potential through experimentation and critique."[7]
Exhibits[edit]
Her first major solo exhibition was titled Taking Up Space opened in October 2017 at Firstsite, Colchester[4]. Recent solo exhibitions include Electric Lady Land at Enclave Lab, London (featuring work first commissioned for the group show WE RUN THIS at BOM, Birmingham); and Now that we know the world is ending soon...what are you gonna wear? at Cheap Cheap Gallery, Birmingham.[8]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Interview with Emily Mulenga - De:Formal". www.deformal.com. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "Interview with Emily Mulenga - De:Formal". www.deformal.com. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "About". emilymulenga. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "HITxHIT | Contemporary Art". HIT². Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "Bio". emilymulenga. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Emily Mulenga". www.afrotechfest.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ UAL (2020-07-27). "Emily Mulenga: MA Fine Art". UAL. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
- ↑ "Bio". emilymulenga. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
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