Emilia Telese
“For me, forests and trees embody peace and the possibility of coexistence between humans and the natural world. They are living archives of the Earth’s memories, sustaining life through oxygen, shelter, and nourishment. To awaken to birdsong rather than to fear or conflict is to enter a space where the soul can breathe, where reflection and the hope for lasting peace become possible. For Merleau-Ponty, perception is embodied and relational — to stand before a tree is to encounter both the visible and the invisible, an exchange that shapes our sense of being in the world.”
Emilia Telese (Italy, 1973, lives and works in Iceland) is an artist whose work is defined by contrasts: the sunlit wheat fields of southern Italy and the icy landscapes of Iceland, the intimate and the universal, the fragile and the enduring. She graduated in painting from the Fine Arts Academy in Florence in 1996. After moving to the UK the same year, she studied Printmaking at the University of Brighton and later completed a PhD at Loughborough University. Her work has been shown internationally, with highlights including the Venice Biennale (2005), Ars Electronica in Linz (2002-03), the Louvre in Paris (2012), the Freud Museum in London (2010), and more recently the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2023, 2025), The Paper Arts Museum London and Bankside Gallery London (2025).
“Electric Forest Reprise”, 2025, electro-etching and handmade pigment on paper, varied edition of 15 (10x10cm)
