bio

Emma Jo Vitallo is a photographic artist from the suburbs of Chicago.  She is in conversation with themes regarding what comes after life, exploring the many different relationships she has had, and processing trauma through vernacular imagery, environmental self-portraits, and portraits of others. Vitallo is interested in photography as a tool for communicating memories and their complimentary feelings, to cope with dissociative thoughts in a part-fictional, part-autobiographical way. She explores the medium of photography in various lights from alternative processes like contact printing pinhole paper negatives, to heavy photographic manipulation in Photoshop. By using assorted approaches to make an image, Vitallo is making every effort to understand the subliminal questions of existence. Vitallo received her BFA from Northern Illinois University in 2022, where she will continue her education in the MFA program. She has volunteered in the photography lab for the 2021-22 school year on campus. Her work was exhibited in three exhibitions hosted by the university including the Annette and Johns Gallery and Gallery 215. At the end of March 2022, she participated in the attempt at breaking the world record for the World’s Largest Paper Snowflake with Jessica Labatte and the photography department at NIU.