Emma's grandmother, Audrey was a refugee when she fled to the Netherlands during World War II, and she suffered the pain and trauma of war. Regardless of the situation, she worked hard and gracefully helped others, she, later on, had a breakthrough. She married Mel Ferrer, an actor, director on stage and on screen and film producer. Together, they had Sean, father of Emma.
Emma Kathleen was born in Morges, Switzerland, 1994. Her parents divorced when she was still young, nevertheless, important values were inculcated in her life such as putting others first and the importance of family time and nurture.
She's always known she loves art and has naturally chosen it above any other opportunities saying: "I realized early on that I felt most stimulated, and most connected to myself and other people when painting. I have always been super creative!" And throughout, her father always said there is an art in everything.
As she bloomed, she was in musicals, a movie and has started acting recently, which she loves. Emma is a classically trained portrait painter but paints an entirely new and more expressive way now. She works in art curating, is a liaison to international artists (which revolves around writing and writes poetry as well).
It has been clearly visible to me, she is a guardian of the arts. "I paint pictures and write poetry. My training is in classical realism. My work is influenced by dreams, energetics, consciousness, simple life forms, and paradoxes. I seek to explain what appears miraculous to me about the commonplace. I am interested in the space between things, and the space between life and beyond. Some things are better said painted, and others are better said with words. In a Platonic sense, my work points a finger towards the things that can't be said at all."
Although she is a vast contributor to the arts, her working hands have gone further by laboring with UNHCR. Emma had spent a few months in Italy and Spain and kept hearing about those who died on their way to Greece and Turkey. Deeply called to go to Greece, she approached the commissioner in 2016, and was able to raise 15,000 USD and planned a mission trip to visit refugee camps and do research on families, especially Syrian families part of the EU relocation scheme.
"By talking about it and raising awareness about certain issues makes a huge difference. It’s important for me to tell people that the EU relocation scheme has only been fulfilled by about 20%. Then people start asking why and informing themselves about other crucial socio-political-economic issues going on within Europe, and other countries. Also, I think it’s super important for people to rework their stereotypes and conceptions of what a refugee is. They’re all around us, now more than ever. My grandmother was a refugee when she fled to the Netherlands during World War II, and she suffered the pain and trauma of war in a big way. I think there’s a social stigma on refugees, that’s difficult because people know they’re in need and want to help, yet there’s still so much xenophobia to overcome when it comes to integrating them into our society. So talking about those issues gets the ball rolling and forces people to think about how they think about refugees, and why they think about them in that way. It’s all about awareness, of ourselves and our own ideas and biases." Emma stated.
And as of today, she continues to take an unbridged zeal to accomplish her mission.
This is a small portion of the person Emma is but she has defined who an artist is, living to the fullest and engaging in the life of her own as she pours herself into the lives of others.
Art is the way people tell of their experience with being alive. Art allows people to process their lives and rework them into higher forms. Witnessing that allows for a huge emotional catharsis from the viewer, even if it’s happening subconsciously.
Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer
Self-portrait and still by Emma
Emma Ferrer - can be seen in Carbonmade portfolio
Photos by Ernesto Ruscio