Name: Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece: Strength in Scoliosis

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: Archival pigment inkjet print

Price: $2500

Description:

This work speaks to the resilience forged through adversity, whether physical, emotional, or societal. While inspired by the experience of scoliosis, its meaning extends beyond a single condition. It reflects the strength required to carry challenges that leave both visible and invisible marks: prejudice, discrimination, loss, hardship, or the weight of expectations placed upon us by others. These experiences become part of our structure, shaping who we are. Like the curve of the spine itself, the path through life is rarely straight. Yet within that bend lies evidence of adaptation, perseverance, and growth. This image honors the courage to move forward, to embrace one's identity, and to find strength not despite adversity, but through it.

Title of Piece: Insecta I

ArtIst: Emmalee Rathsam

Size: 22.5" x 32.5

Medium: archival pigment inkjet

Price: $1,850

About the Piece:

My work is rooted in authenticity. An ongoing process of creating from a place that feels honest and deeply personal. When I allow myself to make art without performance or pretense, I feel most at home within myself. In this piece, Insecta, I explore identity through self-portraiture intertwined with insects I collected from my family’s farmhouse. Among them were wasps I discovered tucked inside the window sills, hidden in corners and quietly occupying the space over time. Finding them felt significant; they became symbols of memory, resilience, and the unseen presence of home.

About the Artist:

Born and raised in the Kansas City area, Emmalee Rathsam is an award winning fine art photographer. Her portraiture is an art form that blends surrealism and photography to create dreamlike imagery, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Rathsam’s surrealist approach to her photography sets her work apart and her recent exploration with self-portraiture has brought her international recognition among the photography community as she is recognized for her artistic excellence at image competitions.

Connect!:Instagram @emmaleerathsam

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece: Proportions of Change

Size: 33.75” x 35.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet print

Price: 2800

Studio Number: 203

About the Piece: : In this self-portrait, Emmalee Rathsam explores her evolving identity and artistic journey through the lens of authenticity. The dimly lit, confined space mirrors the feeling of outgrowing an environment that once defined her—an echo of how comfort can quietly confine creativity. Reaching upward, she illuminates fragments of her past while courageously turning the light toward her future. After more than a decade of photographing everyday portraits, Rathsam now embraces the deeply personal act of self-portraiture, creating work that celebrates truth, vulnerability, and the surreal beauty found in being wholly oneself.

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece: Trapped in Porcelain

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet print

Price: $2200

Description: The work reflects on the pressures of idealization and conformity — how society molds youth, femininity, and beauty into something ornamental, static, and emotionally distant. The stand beneath her feet underscores the tension between support and control, holding her upright while also trapping her in place.

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece: The Face of Lost Time

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet print

Price: $2200

Description: For centuries, women have paid the price of time—time stolen, silenced, stretched thin, and sacrificed. From the domestic sphere to the professional world, women’s hours have been carved up by the expectations of a patriarchal society that values their labor yet denies them equal voice, space, and opportunity. Every moment spent justifying worth, fighting for recognition, or recovering from violence is time that could have been used to create, lead, rest, or thrive. Misogyny—whether overt or insidiously normalized—continues to dictate who gets to speak, who gets to rise, who gets remembered. The cost is incalculable. How many ideas never written, inventions never built, art never made? How many lifetimes have been devoted not to personal fulfillment but to surviving systems that diminish and delay women at every turn? We lose more than time—we lose generations of brilliance. Until society chooses to reckon with the deeply rooted structures of male dominance, the world will continue to forfeit the full power of its women—one second, one life, one legacy at a time.

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece:Eyes of Time

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet (Print)

Price: $2200 (framed) ; ask about unframed

Description:"Eyes of Time" challenges the viewer to reflect on their own perception of time and how to utilize it. Time is what we desire most and utilize the least. Minutes, hours and days have been lost to social media and the fixation on other people’s lives, instead of your own. Day after day, time faces us. The hands tick at their own pace. The desire to speed up time or slow down time is never relinquished. Controlling time is not an option. The hands keep ticking until the seconds, minutes and hours add up to the culmination of your life. What you do with it is in your hands.

Artist:Emmalee Rathsam

Title of Piece:Rewired Existence

Size:35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet (Print)

Price: 2200

Description:"Rewired Existence" is a visual representation of the on-going conversation surrounding artificial intelligence and its ethicality. Behind every human face is an intricate circuit of human thoughts, human creativity, and human emotions. As AI continues to invade every industry, it raises the question, "Will human creativity exist as the future of AI evolves?" Artificial intelligence has undoubtedly revolutionized the creative landscape, offering powerful tools for any industry. However, AI is not a replacement for human creativity. “Rewired Existence” is both an observation and a provocation, inviting contemplation on what it truly means to be original. This visual representation of the mind versus the machine questions the existence of human ingenuity. Will anything be original? Ultimately, AI is a collaborator, not a creator. It can enhance human creativity, providing inspiration or a fresh perspective, but it will always require human vision to give art its soul.

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title: The Marionettist

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: archival pigment inkjet (Print) - Framed

Price: $2200

Just as a marionettist works to bring its subject to life, a photographer works tirelessly to breathe life into their concept. Manipulating the strings of light, pose, expression, wardrobe, makeup, composition, and retouching to create their masterpiece. Just as the artist requires a trained eye and skilled hands, the final result seeks a delicate balance of self-expression between power, performance and control. The duality of roles—master and subject—poses the question, “Who truly holds the strings?” 

Artist Statement:

My self-portraiture is an art form that seeks to identify the intersection between surrealism and photography to create dreamlike imagery, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination.  What appears as a flawless photograph requires countless captures and hours of editing; a journey of transformation that takes practice and patience. Digitally manipulating the image with a trained eye and a meticulous hand translates the visual narrative into reality on paper. Staying true to traditional editing techniques and deliberately avoiding AI-generated elements, I maintain full artistic control. My work aims to challenge perceptions, evoke curiosity, and spark dialogue.

Artist: Emmalee Rathsam

Title: Detached

Size: 35.5” x 29.5”

Medium: Giclée Print on Fine Art Paper

$2200

Artwork comes framed

Artist Statement:

Without blood giving life to the hand, it cannot perform. Without purpose the hand is severed from the body. It is detached and lifeless. There is tension between what is alive, and what is inert.  The soft textures of the fabric contrast with the rigid form of the wooden hand, embracing the complexity of being both artist and subject matter; a balance of creation and stillness.

My self-portraiture is an art form that seeks to identify the intersection between surrealism and photography to create dreamlike imagery, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination.  What appears as a flawless photograph requires countless captures and hours of editing; a journey of transformation that takes practice and patience. Digitally manipulating the image with a trained eye and a meticulous hand translates the visual narrative into reality on paper. Staying true to traditional editing techniques and deliberately avoiding AI-generated elements, I maintain full artistic control. My work aims to challenge perceptions, evoke curiosity, and spark dialogue.