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The story so far...
Emily Little is an eclectic visual artist, writer, and poet with several years of experience in the Charlotte arts community. Born in Spain, raised in New Hampshire and Hawaii, and settled in North Carolina, Little has taken a little piece of everywhere she’s lived with her and incorporated her unique voice and views into her art. Over the past few years, Little has exhibited her work in numerous shows, including those at the Mint Museum, the Bechtler Museum, the Charlotte BOOM Festival, and Charlotte International Art Festival. Her pieces are part of private collections across the United States. Little’s written and visual works both reflect her constant striving towards full authenticity, releasing the biases placed on us by society, eliminating the fears and anxieties each situation creates, letting go of the tendency to please others, and bearing the beautiful and the ugly, the mundane and the profound, and every other concept of duality found in this reality. She specializes in creating mixed-media contemporary statement pieces depicting the paradoxical concepts of the human experience, and feels most inspired when interacting with other creatives and discussing how to improve the world and community.
Artist Statement
Growing up, I was often made to feel shame about my “negative feelings”, causing me to repress and hide them to the best of my ability, and instilling within me the belief that I can only be loved if I am considered a “good person”. This self-limiting belief turned me into a voracious people pleaser, choosing personal sacrifice for the pleasure of others over my own well-being, and causing me a great deal of pain throughout my life. As I matured, I recognized the need to unlearn limiting and harmful beliefs and to be my authentic self in order to experience a more fulfilling and less painful existence. At age twenty-six, my brain is finally developed, but I am still early in my journey of restructuring my mindset and practicing self-love and acceptance. I still struggle to love and present all of myself, especially the parts that I was made to believe were unlovable and unique to me, but by creating art exploring the duality of man and the full spectrum of our humanity, it helps myself and others recognize that their darkness is not unique, and not evil, but a necessary element we each possess. By acknowledging the full spectrum of our humanity, instead of presenting curated versions of ourselves and judging one another, it opens the doors to deeper conversations, understanding, and connection, encouraging a better world with more intimacy and nuance, and less finger-pointing and victimization.