Her Story
Roots
Samantha Louise Emery was born in London during the summer of 1968 to British fashion model Jenifer Wontner and Canadian Olympic Gold Medallist Victor Emery. Her late grandfather Sir Hugh Wontner became Lord Mayor of London in 1973 and her late great-grandfather was Arthur Wontner prolific British actor who famously portrayed Sherlock Holmes in many successful feature films throughout the 1930s.
After spending her childhood in Montreal Canada, Emery and her family moved to England in 1981. As a teenager, she had a short career as a model working with renowned photographers Annie Leibovitz and Patrick Lichfield. Feeling an innate need to travel, she embarked on a voyage across South America in 1987.
Awaken
After travelling for six months, she returned to England to give birth to her first daughter Tabatha. During her early years of parenting, Emery interned with Irish fashion designer Paul Costello who made a number of outfits for the late Princess Diana. Emery soon sought a new direction and enrolled in an Art Foundation at Amersham College in Buckinghamshire. There she explored ceramics, design and film, and won an award at the Young Peoples Film & Video Festival for her short film Night Shift inspired by the work of Sylvia Plath. This lead to a placement offer to study Ceramic and Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. During her art student years, Emery discovered a natural affinity for painting and drawing which would define her artistic career.
In the early 1990s, Emery moved to Canada and debuted several series of paintings in Toronto and New York. In 1997, the artist was commissioned to create an original artwork for the Save the Children organisation, presented as an award to the late American born Canadian TV personality Ernie Coombs ‘Mr. Dressup’ as a dedication to his many years of service as spokesperson for the Foundation. During this period, she also gave birth to her second daughter Jasmin.
Fashion Design
Beaconsfield England
Film Direction
Amersham England
Charity Art
Toronto Canada
Growth
During a trip to Turkey, Emery was so taken by the hospitality, the history of its Persian and Greek lineage, and the innate spiritual connection she was having to Bodrum, that she found herself compelled to move there. This life change inspired the artist to create numerous artworks including her series Dancing in the Dark. This body of work, charged with intense colour and sharp edges, made of acrylic, wax and resin on canvas, represents the fluctuating nature of human existence.
Purpose
During Emery’s 49th birthday, she found herself reflecting back on the connections she had made with the women in her life and the various ways that they had nourished her existence, in particular the strength and wisdom she had witnessed in her two daughters. This lead her to conceptualise IKONA - a powerful message of female solidarity woven into a self portraiture multimedia portrait series of living women that would explore the true depth and complexity of the Feminine Spirit.
