In Nighttime Paintings I imagine a space where edges blur and thresholds become porous. It is a space where borders feel permeable, where time passes strangely, and where distinctions – between human and animal, dream and reality, the self and the rest of the world – dissolve.
Informed by medieval painting, the figures exist untethered to time and place, drifting between pictorial and symbolic. I believe my medium and my content have a reciprocal relationship. I paint with ink, pigment, dye, and mostly lots and lots of water. Water erodes the rigidity of paint, conjuring a world of soft edges and vulnerability; this approach dissolves the distinction between outside and inside, me and you, this world and the other-worldly.
I’m drawn to moments that showcase the fragility, mutability, and resilience of the human form.
![*Swimmer*, ink and watercolour on paper](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/8abd14d019-1684679857/1-1-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Swimmer, ink and watercolour on paper
![Ink on canvas, 80 x 100 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/6ad7f7392f-1684679857/2-2-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink on canvas, 80 x 100 cm
![Ink and pigment on canvas, 80 x 100 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/93d17263f3-1684679857/3-3-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink and pigment on canvas, 80 x 100 cm
![Ink on canvas, 80 x 100 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/9f27f6d8cf-1684679857/4-4-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink on canvas, 80 x 100 cm
![Ink on canvas, 23 x 30 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/e03593c71a-1684679857/5-5-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink on canvas, 23 x 30 cm
![Ink on canvas, 15 x 20 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/67a43afe44-1684679857/6-6-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink on canvas, 15 x 20 cm
![Ink on canvas, 23 x 30 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/5fc224dc44-1684679857/7-7-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink on canvas, 23 x 30 cm
![Ink, watercolour and pigment on canvas, 50 x 50 cm](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/ccd610e563-1684679857/8-8-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Ink, watercolour and pigment on canvas, 50 x 50 cm
![NCAD Works exhibition 2023, installation view](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/0955c1605e-1684679857/9-9-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
NCAD Works exhibition 2023, installation view
![Installation detail, collected drawings](https://2023.ncad.works/media/pages/graduates/emma-harris/05169d84c7-1684679857/10-10-emmaharris-jpg-1500x-q90.jpg)
Installation detail, collected drawings