Artist Statement

My photographic practice transforms the familiar—inherited objects, personal archives, and daily moments—to reimagine memory and reshape narratives. By layering, manipulating, and reconstructing images, I explore gaps in family history, creating metaphors for loss and resilience. Through physical overlays and digital composites, I question the stability of memory, revealing its complexities and the interplay of presence and absence. This work engages with the spaces between documentation and imagination, inviting viewers to reflect on their own histories and the transformative power of storytelling.        

Bio

Emma Jo Vitallo is a photographic artist and educator whose work investigates identity, memory, and connection through layered, multidisciplinary approaches. Most recently, Vitallo has explored the imaginative inheritance of childhood spaces, using the dollhouse as a surrogate for the family home. They received their MFA (cum laude) in 2025, following their debut solo exhibition, Making Magic While the Sun Hides.

Vitallo’s work has been exhibited at the GETXOPhoto Festival in Spain, RIT City Art Space in Rochester, and featured online with Lenscratch and the Texas Photographic Society. Outside of their studio practice, Vitallo works as an Office Administrator for a wedding photographer in the suburbs of Chicago, teaches 2D foundations, and serves as a part-time studio technician at Northern Illinois University. They also collaboratively hold a Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Paper Snowflake.

  • 2025 | MFA (cum laude) | Photography | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, IL

    2022 | BFA (cum laude) | Photography | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, IL  

  • February 3-7, 2025 | Making Magic While the Sun Hides | MFA Thesis Exhibition | Annette & Jerry Johns Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    February 1-25, 2025 | Encore! Encore! Encore! | backspace Gallery | DeKalb, IL

  • February 2026 | Bunnies & Bruised Knees | Purple Window Gallery | Chicago, IL

    October-December 2025 | High Strangeness | Five-person Exhibition | Freeport Art Museum | Freeport, IL

    March 2024 | 2024 Annual Juried Blick Art Materials Ars Nova Exhibition | Jack Olson Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    November 2023 | Homecoming | RIT City Art Space | Rochester, NY

    October 2023 | Belonging in STEAM: Create and Discover | Annette and Jerry Johns Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    January 2023 | here but not here but here | Backspace Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    December 2022 | No Restrictions | Hosted by NIU Graduate Arts Association | Jack Olson Gallery | DeKalb, IL 

    November 2022 | Multiplicity | First Year Graduate Exhibition | Annette and Jerry Johns Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    May 2022 | BFA Exhibition | Jack Olson Gallery | DeKalb, IL

    November 2021 | (un)process(ing) |ARTD469: Independent Projects | Gallery 215 | DeKalb, IL

    Fall 2021 | Faces of Belonging | Annette and Jerry Johns Gallery | DeKalb, IL

  • September 2024 | issue 49: play | carte blanche | Online Magazine | Canada

    May 2024 | Masters of Domestic Animal Art | Wild Heart Art Gallery | Online Exhibition | Coachella Valley

    April 2024 | #NewVisions2024 | Texas Photographic Society | Online Exhibition | Houston, TX

    April 2024 | 2024 All Things Considered | Las Lagunas Art Gallery | Online Exhibition | Laguna Beach, CA

    January 2024 | The Favorite Photograph You Took in 2023 | Lenscratch | Online Exhibition, (Part 10)

  • 2025 - present | Admin Coordinator for Wedding Photographer | Rachael Watson Photography | Batavia, IL

    2025 - present | Instructor, School of Art & Design (Foundations) + Tech Support | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, IL

    2024 - 25 | Graduate Teaching Assistant | Northern Illinois University | Art History Department | DeKalb, IL | ARTH292, ARTH350

    2024 - 25 | Graduate Teaching Assistant | Northern Illinois University | Foundations Department | DeKalb, IL | ART102: 2D Foundations | View Student Work

    2023 - 24 | Head Photography Lab Attendant | Northern Illinois University | Photography Department | DeKalb, IL

    2023 - 24 | Graduate Instructor of Record | Northern Illinois University | Photography Department | DeKalb, IL | ARTD313: Beginning Photography, ARTD419: Intermediate Photography | View Student Work

    2022 - 23 | Graduate Research Assistant / Teaching Assistant | Northern Illinois University | Photography Department | Foundations Department | DeKalb, IL

    2021 - 22 | Undergraduate Photography Lab Attendant | Northern Illinois University | Photography Department | DeKalb, IL

    2021-22 | AP Proctor | Lincoln Way Central High School | New Lenox, IL

    2018 - 22 | Photographer’s Assistant | Andrew Ryback Photography | USA

    2017 - 19 | Digitization Specialist | Richard J Daley Library | University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

  • December 2022 | Assistant Curator, Design & Coordination | Graduate Arts Association | No Restrictions, Jack Olson Gallery, DeKalb, IL

    November 2022 | Assistant Curator, Design & Coordination Assistant Printer | ARTD465 Sequencing & Photobooks: Past and Pleasant. | Elwood House Museum, DeKalb, IL | Annette and Jerry Johns Gallery, DeKalb, IL

    November 2022 | Design & Coordination | Multiplicity | First Year Graduate Exhibition | Annette and Jerry Johns Gallery, DeKalb, IL 

  • 2022 | World’s Largest Paper Snowflake | Guinness Book of World Records | In Collaboration with Jessica Labatte and NIU Photography Department | London, UK

    2021-22 | O’Malley-Pugh Fund | $1,000

    2021-22 | AIM High TR Excellence Scholar | $1,500

    2020-21 | AIM High TR Excellence Scholar | $2,500

    2019-20 | AIM High TR Excellence Scholar | $2,500

    2017 | 2x Golden Key – Photography, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards | Presented by Downers Grove North High School

    2017 | 2x HM – Photography, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards | Presented by Downers Grove North HS

  • October 2025 | Artist Panel Discussion | High Strangeness | Freeport Art Museum | Freeport, IL

    February 2025 | Gallery Visit with ARTD313 Beginning Digital Photography Students | Making Magic While the Sun Hides | Annette & Jerry Johns Gallery | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, IL

    September 2024 | Artist Talk | carte blanche | Online

    August 2024 | Artist Talk | NIU Summer in the Arts Camp | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, IL

  • July 2025 | NIU Summer in the Arts Camp | Digital Photography | Northern Illinois University

    July 2024 | NIU Summer in the Arts Camp | Digital & Experimental Photography (Co-taught with Amy Marie Fleming) | Northern Illinois University

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