Jessica Emmett

Who is Jessica Emmett?

Jessica Emmett is a photographer and conceptual artist. She was born in Hong Kong to a Vietnamese refugee, who had fled Vietnam after the Vietnam War. She was put up for adoption and subsequently adopted by British expatriates. She emigrated with her adopted family to the UK in 1998. Jessica Emmett has a BA in Photography and an MA in Media Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Jessica is now a practicing artist who explores very raw and personal experiences of being transracially adopted by examining adoption processes and themes surrounding family, race, colonialism and cultural diaspora. The foundation of Jessica’s experimental practice stems from film and photography, which lead to installations, performance and interactive pieces.

A strong method within Jessica’s practice is the act of repetition. This reaction is almost spiritual in response to unlocking memories, be these memories of her own or that of a cultural consciousness that she has lost along the way as a result of being adopted.

More recently, Jessica has started giving talks about her adoption experience and issues relating to transracial adoption to a number of international groups.