‘The World Between’: Emilija Blake animates her disabilties
Resting atop a hill, a headless deer gazes down at a city. Without eyes, the deer manages to appear sentinel. This was artist Emilija Blake’s first creature, artwork that serves as a stand-in for her disabilities and symptoms. The deer is disassociation, “feeling like you’re outside of your body, existing somewhere else, like your head is in the clouds,” Blake said, sitting with her mom, Taffy Hunter, in Hamilton Studio, while Don Hamilton, Hamilton Studio co-owner, busied himself setting up projectors, and her service dog, Kasper, a goldendoodle, stayed by her side.