Emma Brutman

Emma Brutman is an exhibit and scenic designer, artist, and muralist based in Champaign, IL. Emma is also a board member of CUDO and a columnist for Smile Politely.

The concept for Emma’s collection at Boneyard Boulders came out of an idle brain thought: what if fruit was stained glass? Since then, it has evolved into an exploration of what lies beneath a predictable exterior; when split open, what do the guts reveal? As the stained glass concept fell away, the complex tangles of each fruit’s flesh turned into a meditation on what we hide and how bold, colorful, and joyful it can be when shared. At the heart of these pieces is the exploration of queer joy and the hope that we can show it to ourselves and the world. In the fundamentally unserious pursuit of asking a fruit to carry so much emotional weight, the aim of this collection is to question whether we need to be holding so much in and whether peeling ourselves open – despite how scary it feels – might lighten the burden.