my name is emily de lima.
I am a Brazilian-American artist and designer based in Queens, NYC, working across various mediums.
I graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor's of architecture degree and am currently a design and drafting teacher at the high school for math, science, and engineering in NYC.
My work draws from mythology, folklore, astronomy, and cosmology to explore questions of origin, identity, healing, and the ways people make meaning of the world. I am interested in how knowledge is passed down through stories, traditions, and craft, and how these histories continue to shape our understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe.
Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, I create highly saturated, dreamlike worlds where fantasy and scientific ideas exist side by side. My process combines the precision of architectural drafting with intuitive, organic forms, allowing structure and spontaneity to coexist.
Many of my works are rooted in my own experiences with mental health, grief, and transformation. I use mythology and imagined landscapes as a way of processing emotion, exploring resilience, and reflecting on humanity's relationship to nature, the cosmos, and the stories we tell to understand both.
Photo by Nadia chin from "in bloom"
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