Emily Tironi was born and raised in Cambridge, NY in 1996. She was born with a muscle disease causing weakness and fatigue and requiring the use of a wheelchair for long distances. She has enjoyed all types of art since childhood and grew up entering her art in the local fair and still does today. Throughout high school, she loved art class and used drawing, painting and collage as an outlet for her struggles and a way to express herself. After graduating high school in 2014, she attended SUNY Adirondack and pursued a degree in media arts. Here, she discovered photography and began to photograph nature around her. In 2016, several of her photos were published in SUNY Adirondack’s literary magazine, Expressions. She also received SUNY Adirondack’s Parnassus Award in Graphic Arts. She graduated and transferred to CUNY School of Professional Studies in 2016 to pursue a degree in Disability Studies. While studying disability in cultural and societal aspects, she began to use her experiences as a person with a disability in her art. Studying Frida Kahlo in college, Emily was inspired by her surrealist style and expression of disability and self in her work. She was inspired to do larger, more layered works after taking an online workshop with outsider artist, Anne Grgich. She combines layered paper images and bright colors to create complicated pieces with unique messages. In September 2019, her work was part of the Opulent Mobility exhibition in New Jersey. Her work was selected for the 31 Women exhibit at the Sedona Arts Center and she is having her first solo show at Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT from August 2020 to October 2020. Emily currently resides in Cambridge, NY and works as a customer service evaluator. She works on her collages daily. Follow her on instagram @ett.designs and on her website emilytironi.wixsite.com/ettdesigns.
