Emily Norton
(She/Her)
@emilyheatheradele
Emily is a video and textile artist working on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. Much of her practice involves using costumes, sets and props as a method of storytelling. She likes to make things that are colourful, elaborate and humorous and is interested in how elements of popular culture, television, advertising and the internet can be untethered and rearranged. Last year, she completed an honours year in visual art at the VCA, and her and co-director Maddie Johnston’s production of ‘Kitchen Kabaret’ was a recent success at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Interviewed by Gemma Hassall
Emily’s practice is not bound to a sole medium, she’s worked with textile, film, costume and video. But when it comes to textiles, Emily’s transformative skill of weaving fabric into everyday textures is visually breathtaking.
““I think a lot of my practice revolves around textiles. I love the making part, being able to experiment and trying to make something that’s stuck in your brain become real. Often, I create textile works, like costumes and sets, that are shown through video, and it’s cool to see how they can be transformed on camera.”
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‘Kitchen Kabaret’ was recently taken to Melbourne Fringe Festival. Actor and theatre maker Maddie Johnston directed and wrote the production for stage, alongside the composing of Riley McCullagh. Emily contributed both in the writing process, and as production and costume designer. The show was definitely a highlight of the festival and a huge success.
The production originally initiated from Emily’s 2022 honor’s major work. In Emily’s words, she describes ‘Kitchen Kabaret’ as “A 16-minute video work featuring a group of peoples dressed as vegetables as they undergo the cooking process. The characters sing and dance their way from the fridge, to the chopping board, to sink, to oven.” In discussing the concept Emily says,
“I was thinking about how food items are often anthropomorphised in ads, like all the MnM people, and how weird that was. Most advertising is based on research of human psychology, so it’s strange to think something would be made more human to convince us to want to eat it! The video itself is pretty silly, various logics are courted but ultimately disregarded, normally in favour of a vegetable pun or visual gag. Conceived as part 90s children’s program, community theatre musical production or DIY sitcom, I wanted to play an overt optimism against a disconcerting deadpan. It was definitely the most ambitious thing I have made, and the longest I have ever spent thinking about one idea.”
Emily talks about how her inspiration comes from everyday textures and experiences, ‘Kitchen Kabaret’ in particular evolved from Emily cooking with a leek in her kitchen.
“I was pulling apart the long segments, and loved how translucent they were with the green to white gradient. I put all the leek segments on my housemate like a dress and then started thinking of how I could make different vegetable costumes and I realised I needed to make something for them all to exist in!”
A key aspect from the production is the musical, and written elements. When I talked to Emily about the process of creating the music and writing she stated:
“A lot of the script was copied from other sources, either changed or rearranged. Normally from things I heard before or from browsing the internet. In Kitchen Kabaret, I took elements from Shakespeare plays, Wikipedia articles about food, advertising slogans, Lana del Rey lyrics, quotes from famous chefs, Television shows and Musical Theatre troupes. I put things in that amused me or made me laugh. I also like to see how meaning can be changed through association. I was also thinking about our production and distribution of food, and the journeys of inanimate objects in these processes. One of my favourite things about video is being able to work with other people. I worked with a composer, Riley McCullagh, who did an amazing job creating the music for each song. They are catchy but also play into the uncanny vibe of the video.”
Seeing Emily’s ability to transform life to art, to fabric, to stage and film is no less than magical. At the moment Emily is working on some textile works that are sculptural and wall based. You can check out her creative endeavours via her Instagram, and also catch the video production of ‘Kitchen Kabaret’ at Firstdraft gallery playing until the 26th of November.