Em Hampton
Visual Artist, New Haven
Em is a visual artist from Los Angeles, through her continuous search of herself she ended up in New Haven, Connecticut. More recently, she explored more of the North-East coast, finding memories and creating new ones. Between sheer bliss and nostalgia, she brings us back a part of her journey.
Where are you from and who are you?
I’m from Los Angeles, CA. I’m 22, I went to school in New York, but I live in New Haven now. I don’t really know who I am yet, but I am trying my best to figure that out. I love very loudly and I am fascinated by the evolution of myself and those around me through any circumstances we come across.
Where is your roll shot at?
We see the ocean, forest, nature. My roll is shot on a trip I took for my birthday this past summer. I just moved in with my partner, but before that, we were doing long distance for about four months, after being together for a year. We took a trip to Maine(my first time) to see his grandparents, and I was absolutely enamored with the place, it felt truly magical. The light was magic, the waves were mesmerizing, and I felt the most peaceful I had in months. Before Maine, we jumped off cliffs in Hamden, Connecticut, my first time swimming in a green pond (so many bug bites.) After, went to a family birthday party for my grandfather’s 80th in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Falmouth was a place I spent very little time in, but I always wanted to go back, and it was really special to bring someone I loved there. The roll is shot in places I felt the most joy and sadness, sometimes together, sometimes separately.
Can you tell us about the people we see in your pictures?
There are photos of complete strangers by the bank of the pond I jumped off a rock into, photos of my partner’s parents, photos of my partner, Teo. The last photo in the roll is me at the airport, going home to LA after feeling at home with him.
What are you planning for the new year ahead of us?
For the new year, I’m transitioning to new places. I’m not sure where I am going to end up, or if we’re going to stay together as a couple, but I am planning to explore more and to make more art out of the way I feel in new and old surroundings. I’m planning on rediscovering the versions of myself I left behind and hoping to piece together the person I was before all the bad, and the person I am now.
Why did you decide to shoot with one of our cameras?
I have been following Disposable Magazine for quite a while, and I really loved the idea of going back to where and how I started taking pictures. When I was really young, my grandmother who has since passed away would give me a disposable camera to shoot whatever I wanted to when I would visit her in Santa Barbara. My whole childhood was recorded and photographed and at a young age, I wanted to be a part of whatever this fascination with documentation was. I spent the first portion of my first paycheck after college on the camera because I wanted to remember the way shooting aimlessly yet carefully felt.
Your idea of happiness?
Feeling unabashedly in love with people and the world before you.
Your idea of misery?
Oh man. Misery feels like the lowest point, when things feel worse than they are, when you can’t get up or tell yourself that things will improve or at least become lighter. It feels cold and sad and dark. Debilitating numbness. Feeling nothing when you usually feel everything.
If not yourself, who would you be?
Charlotte, from A Married Woman (Une Femme Mariée) by Jean-Luc Godard.
Your heroes?
Agnes Varda. Sarah Kane. Alec Soth. Doug Dubois.
What is your present state of mind?
Currently, I feel very lost. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing as a college grad, or how to navigate the changes in my romantic relationship. I know I have to take some big steps soon to really decide if my future includes this other person, or if this other person’s future includes me. I feel overwhelmed with adulthood, I feel like I’m faking it, but I still have this little hope that things will be okay, or I will almost be okay, at least.
A song?
Whiteout by Warpaint.
Right or left handed?
Right!
What is the best dish you can cook?
I make great PB&J sandwiches.
What is your middle name?
Robyn with a y, because my dad’s name is Rob, and my mom’s name is Lynne.
What do you do in your free time?
I watch French movies, go through my hard drives, and go on adventures with my partner.
What inspires you?
The experiences I’ve gone through that have changed me permanently, the people I love and have lost, the places I haven’t been to yet, and the “homes” I’ve left behind.
What do you do for money?
I work for a Youtuber named Volksgeist, I shoot some of his videos and organize his life, and I also work a very boring job of sorting and documenting return addresses on election mail. When an envelope comes back, I have to write down the person it belongs to, and make sure the mail goes to the new address. I also take headshots for people when they need them, and when I need the extra cash.
What do you do for pleasure?
I dance, and I have a great vibrator.
What do you usually eat for breakfast?
Coffee, and a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich. Sometimes, a croissant with jam.
If you could live in another era?
1960s-70s, at the peak of the civil rights’ movements, and when the music was wonderful and people got to experience freedom like no other.
Favorite fictional character?
Peter Pan.
Time travel is possible, where/when do you go?
The moment before my grandmother passed away.
Pants or skirt?
Pants.
Bedside table books?
Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, the second Harry Potter, Photographs Not Taken, and Sylvia Plath’s Ariel.
What do you do if you can’t sleep at night?
Honestly, cry. lol.
Do you collect?
I used to collect bottle caps, and pennies that were face up on the sidewalk.
Tea or coffee?
Iced mocha lattes.
What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
That leprechauns were definitely real, and you could catch them in a shoe box if you put peanut butter in it.
A color?
Cerulean.
A city?
Branford, CT
What are your plans for this weekend?
Cleaning my room, watching some movies, getting a Christmas tree.