Emily C. Thomas creates art at the intersection of painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, film and installation. Taking cues from animist philosophy, she engages with issues of digital culture, body politics and planetary consciousness. Applying techniques from experimental therapies such as self-hypnosis and psychodrama, Thomas assumes transpersonal identities of an enigmatic persuasion: a Private Eye, Bride of the Ocean, and Abbess of the Galactic Center. Shifting between sacred and profane realms, domestic and mundane particulars become prima materia for re-enacting cosmogenesis. Washing machines are akin to interstellar wormholes, breaking wind generates aetheric ectoplasm, and primordial soup is stewing in the kitchen.

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Born in Memphis, TN, Thomas earned a BFA from New York University in 2009 and a MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2015. Her art has been exhibited nationally at Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts, Anthology Film Archives (NYC), Highways Performance Space (Santa Monica), Pehrspace (LA), Art, Design + Architecture Museum (Santa Barbara), Memphis International Airport, Crosstown Arts (Memphis), and internationally at Power Station of Art (Shanghai, CN), Bonnefantenmuseum (Maastricht, NL), and Reykjavík International Film Festival (IS).