Meet Emma Ressel

Ever see a photograph that just stops you straight in your tracks? When you’re so bowled over by its who-knows-what and you stand in front of it gaping for a few?

Well that’s what happened when I first encountered the work of Emma Ressel. Born and bred in Maine, living in this Big Apple, this photographer creates surreal, still-life compositions surrounding food, and boy is it a real treat. 

Below, we chat about the influence of Dutch painting on her work, her deep appreciation of reptiles, and she puts our plant parenting to shame. 

A self-portrait by, Emma Ressel

Would You Rather

be able to grow your hair at will or your fingernails? What would you do?

I would definitely rather be able to grow my hair at will! I always keep my fingernails very short from my days of playing the violin, and I have much more fun switching up my haircuts. I’d love to grow my hair on-demand and switch it up every single day.

Some questions with Emma Ressel

How do you get around NYC?

Mostly by subway. I love riding my bike around Brooklyn, but I typically only do it when the weather is nice, which is not often enough!

How long can you really enjoy a piece of gum?

Hmmm… not that long…. maybe 1 minute? Unfortunately, the sorbitol in gum usually gives me a stomach ache so the enjoyment is extra short-lived for me!

What drew you to still-life photography?

I first discovered Dutch still life painting when I visited the National Gallery in DC while in college. I wandered into a gallery filled with still life paintings of food and flowers and I immediately fell in love with the intensity of the light, the richness of the colors, and the romanticism that the Dutch masters imbued into a simple object like a crust of bread or a peel of fruit. Finding drama in the mundane elements of everyday life and material culture has always been exciting to me.

What about food — and the scenes surrounding it — do you find to be inspiring?

Food has always been a very positive part of my life. My mother is an excellent cook and baker and passed a huge amount of knowledge onto me as I was growing up. She worked at our neighborhood bakery for many years, and I started working there as well during middle and high school. It was there, while decorating cakes and baking pies that I started tuning into the intense sensory experience of working with large quantities of ingredients like butter, flour, and sugar. I started to think about how I could translate these very visceral textures, tastes, and smells to photographs.

My dad is a herpetologist (a scientist who studies reptiles and amphibians) and he taught me to love lizards, frogs, and snakes as a kid. I feel like I’ve always been considering these animals, and how I adore them, but most people find them totally repulsive.

Over the years I have learned that food and animals in art are never just food or animals, but rather symbols for so many other things, mostly relating to religion, morality, and the big questions in life. In this way, I think I am beginning to use foods as a series of codes in my work. Ingredients like a lemon, a fish, or a pat of butter are so accessible and recognizable, that I aim for viewers to draw on their own connection with the foods to uncover the little narratives I bury within the compositions.

Who are your favorite NYC artists?

Daniel Gordon, Farah Al Qasimi, and the curatorial team Four-D, to name just a few!

Do you have any plants? If so how are they doing?

Ohhhh yes I do. My roommates and I currently have 21 plants in our apartment between the three of us, and I also grow vegetables and herbs on my roof during the summer months. I care about my plants deeply (they are my pets/children) and they also make frequent appearances in my photographs. Most of them are doing very well— both my mom and my boyfriend studied botany in college so they both give me lots of guidance in properly caring for them.

Have you ever had a supernatural experience?

No, I don’t think so! But I sort of do believe in the supernatural, and I’m kind of scared to have a supernatural experience! I am also very scared of the dark, which is embarrassing…

Are most of the scenes in your work found or created?

The scenes in my photographs are nearly all created. I come up with the concepts for my photos from reading historical texts on dining, mythology, fairy tales, food science, etc., and I am always looking for interesting rooms, backdrops, kitchens, props, etc. to build the still lifes. Each photograph takes a lot of planning. I use a large format film camera to make the photographs and because film is so expensive I usually take only 1-2 shots for each still life tableau. There is so much suspense waiting for the film to come back from the lab, as well as hoping and crossing my fingers that everything went ok.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

A big part of my process is making and designing the presentation of my prints, so I’d love for readers to check out my work out in the real world! For photographers who put a lot of artistic intention and craft into their prints, viewing photography online will never be a replacement for the real thing.

Please check out my work on my website (www.emmaressel.com) and Instagram (@emma.ressel), but in addition to that, I love to host people for studio visits at my studio in Ridgewood, Queens. Please get in touch if you’d like to meet for a studio visit! (After the pandemic calms down, of course…)

I also have prints on view at The Wing Soho and The Wing DC, and I have copies of my monograph, Olives in the street, for sale through my website. I keep my website and instagram updated with information on upcoming events so please keep an eye there on shows in NYC and beyond!