Publication Date

Spring 2-2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Labatte, Jessica

Second Advisor

Trankina, Francis

Third Advisor

Nagata, Helen AND Garcia, Larissa

Degree Name

M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts)

Department

School of Art and Design

Disciplines

Fine Arts | Photography

Abstract

Making Magic While the Sun Hides, Emma Vitallo's MFA Thesis project, examines the intersections of memory, transformation, and the psychological construction of home through photography, handcrafted elements, and stop-motion animation. Centered around a childhood dollhouse built by the artist’s grandfather, the work reimagines this artifact as a surrogate for a demolished family home, using miniature stages populated with toy horses and unicorns to explore themes of familial bonds, nostalgia, and loss. Drawing on influences from Odette England’s archive-based photographic practice, Laurie Simmons’ staged domestic imagery, and Surrealist strategies of the uncanny, the project challenges traditional notions of memory as stable or reliable. The work embodies memory's fluidity through meticulous staging, controlled lighting, and frame-by-frame animation, emphasizing the transformation of personal narratives into collective metaphors. Making Magic While the Sun Hides contributes to contemporary dialogues on memory, identity, and emotional space, offering a visual and conceptual framework that foregrounds memory as an imaginative and layered process.

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