Episode 940: Emily Llamazales

In this episode, Emily Llamazales discusses her recent three‑artist show at Swan Coach, where she unveiled a kinetic totem suspended from the skylit ceiling. The piece combines a steel circle, double‑sided translucent fabric printed with her own photographs, and a ceramic tail reminiscent of eroded seashells. By allowing the sculpture to sway with room air and viewer movement, she creates an immersive, almost organism‑like presence that dialogues directly with the other artists’ hanging mobiles, emphasizing shared materiality and spatial choreography.

Emily’s artistic practice is rooted in her early training as a biochemist and molecular biologist, a background that informs her fascination with mutation, adaptation, and speculative biology. She draws parallels between laboratory experimentation and studio tinkering, using grant‑writing as a day‑job that funds her exploratory work. Themes of climate change, micro‑plastic pollution, and invasive species surface throughout her conversation, especially when she describes photographing invasive apple snails in Florida’s Ichetucknee Springs and the pink‑blooming Diamorpha at Georgia’s Arabia Mountain. These ecological observations become visual metaphors for resilience and ecological plasticity in her sculptures.

Beyond the physical objects, Emily treats her photographs as speculative ecological archives, constructing a narrative universe where imagined creatures navigate altered habitats. Her sci‑fi writing, world‑building exercises, and references to speculative evolution underscore a broader discourse on how contemporary art can anticipate and critique future ecosystems. By merging scientific observation, environmental urgency, and imaginative storytelling, Llamazales positions her work at the intersection of contemporary art, ecological research, and speculative fiction, offering viewers a compelling lens on adaptation in a rapidly changing world.