Emma Talbot: Are You a Living Thing That Is Dying or a Dying Thing That Is Living?

“I draw to see what I am thinking.” —Emma Talbot

With luminous colours, flowing patterns and poetic handwritten texts, British artist Emma Talbot creates vibrant, imagined worlds based on her personal thought processes and the shared human experience of being alive today. Fascinated by the transience of human existence, Talbot raises deep questions about our place in a universe shaped by interconnection and perpetual change. Amid ecological collapse and political instability, her art illuminates the urgent need for a hopeful reimagining of the future—one shaped by resilience, creativity and care.

Are You a Living Thing That Is Dying or a Dying Thing That Is Living? is Emma Talbot’s first solo exhibition in Denmark. It showcases a mesmerising site-specific installation uniting two new expansive silk paintings with three-dimensional textile works, a new animation and a series of intricate drawings, acting as the conceptual origin of the exhibition. The works intertwine the infinite mysteries of the universe, shaped by the artist’s imagination and expressed through drawing as intuitive reflections on the pressing challenges of our time. Ranging from incalculable states of destruction and chaos to intimate states of stillness, ecological harmony and imaginative journeys into the mind of animals, the works unfold themes of interspecies connectivity, sustainability, rebirth and human resilience—together summoning the existential question: ‘Are you a living thing that is dying or a dying thing that is living?’

By immersing us in the wild and varied experiences of her recurring female protagonist—a naked, faceless figure representing the artist herself—Emma Talbot invites viewers into her layered, dreamlike worlds, using storytelling as a means of understanding and comprehension. At the same time, Talbot harnesses the power of storytelling to challenge the human-centered worldview. She encouraging us to see moments of crisis as opportunities to redefine our place within the Earth’s enduring and self-sustaining natural cycles.

Emma Talbot (b. 1969, Stourbridge, UK) lives and works in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and London, UK. In 2022, she was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women and exhibited the same year at the 59th Venice Biennale in Italy. Her works have been shown widely across the globe, including KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Kunsthal Stavanger, Norway; Dundee Contemporary Arts, UK; Whitechapel Gallery and Victoria Miro, London.