Meet Emile Kees | Photographer, writer, educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emile Kees and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emile, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I think that I am still finding balance between my life and my work, and believe that the key is to combine the two things – which is obviously easier said than done. I think that an artist is constantly walking between these two things and only the lucky few can really combine them, but for me it is about trying to have your work support your life and your life support your work, not as competitors. I have gone through a lot of change in the last few years, and am finding the right pillars to help support both my life and my work, so that I don’t need to keep balancing but can simply walk from one side to the other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a photographer specialising in analogue darkrooms, producing work in both black and white and colour labs. I grew up in a small family of practicing artists, all working within their own distinctive mediums, and so learned from a young age how to take inspiration from all sorts of places. Sculpture, painting, drawing and the written word all heavily inspire my work, and lately I have steered my interest towards how photography and art can help people.

In my current work, I am exploring methods of creative sustainability and working with discarded items found in urban landscapes. A few of the images I have created for this project so far were recently exhibited in the show, ‘I know this place’, at Haus am See in Switzerland. The exhibition, co-curated by myself alongside Flor Crosta and María Prieto, brought together the works of artists from the international photography collective, Small Table, and explored the meaning of home and belonging through thirty photographs.

Finally, I’m also working on establishing a studio/black and white darkroom in my apartment, and am very excited for that to be used as I have a lot of negatives that are waiting to see the light of the enlarger. I’m always looking to build from what I’ve already got, which at times has felt ‘less-than’ due to the romanticisation of social media, but now feels like a gift. Growing up in an artist household, I learned from my parents how to do things by myself, to dedicate myself to something, and to know why. Which leads me to say that, I think I got to where I am today because of practice. Everything takes practice, and I don’t think success is truly measured on how good something is, it’s how hard you’ve worked on it. In terms of lessons I’ve learned along the way, I think that knowing that if you want to do something, to accomplish something, you need to stop waiting for it to magically happen and go for it – remember that everyone is either trying their best or pretending, and everything takes practice.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This past winter, I moved from NYC to Edinburgh and I haven’t quite established a routine here yet, but current favourite things to do include mornings for breakfast at Summerhall, afternoons at Stills Centre for Photography, and long evenings in the meadows. There are a million things I still need to explore.
Previously, we would wake up in my apartment in the East Village, have our first coffee on the roof (my favourite spot in the city) before heading to Tompkins Square Park via Smør for a pastry and coffee no. 2, look at the dogs in the dog area, head down Ave A probably briefly stopping at Mast books (always have good last-chance things in the boxes by the door), and a little shop called Top Hat on the LES where I always sprayed myself with the same perfume sample I couldn’t afford before heading into the International Center of Photography where I graduated in 2023. From there, the F train to the MoMA to visit another often-frequented spot, the Brâncuși room on the fifth floor, and then maybe spend the evening throwing a frisbee around Central Park. I think one of the best things to do in NY is to have a dinner party and see how many friends can fit in your shoebox apartment, but failing that; Okiboru. I miss that ramen every day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am grateful to be surrounded by supportive people in all aspects of my life, but my partner Noah has made so much room for my work and my ambitions since day one, and never lets me forget my goals, even if I begin to stray from them – so him!

Otherwise, Small Table Collective – a group of eleven photographers from eight different countries, for which I am also a part of. We met in New York and now operate across the globe – and it consists of people who make the world feel excitingly large but comfortingly small at the same time.

Website: http://www.emilekees.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilekees/?hl=en

Image Credits
Raine Roberts