Emory Southwick (they/them) is a queer trans disabled neurodiverse self-taught artist, life model, and facilitator based in Durham.

Growing up, Emory never saw themself reflected in any media or art so they started making art and modelling to try and change that for other trans Disabled people. Emory makes a variety of art from zines and prints, to badges and stickers, and original artworks in various media.

Emory started working as an artist, life model, and facilitator in 2023 whilst completing their BA in Music at Durham University. Since then, Emory has worked as an illustrator for TransGiving UK, designing unique prints for their 2023 and 2024 campaigns, which provide trans people with gender-affirming gifts at Christmas, and collaborated with Bookwyrm, Durham’s queer bookshop. They also rebranded Sugar & Ivy, a queer baker based in the North East, in early 2024. Emory regularly donates art to fundraisers and raffles for gender-affirming care for trans people. 

In July 2024, Emory hosted their first solo exhibition, ‘Queer bodies are holy’, which is a celebration of queer bodies through acrylic paintings, oil pastel drawings, and digital illustrations of North-East-based queer people in collaboration with Northern Pride, Creative Central Newcastle, and Curious Arts.

Emory’s project, Pride of Place, celebrated queer spaces around County Durham through art, poetry, and prose. Emory edited these works into a book, Pride of Place: Queer Spaces of County Durham. The completion of this book saw the start of The Marra Project, creating equitable sober spaces for queer, neurodiverse, and Disabled people in the North East of England.

Alongside being an artist, Emory is a seasoned life model, working across the UK and online to show what a Disabled transmasculine body can look like.

Emory welcomes commissions of any type, whether you are looking for someone to run a workshop on life drawing, zines, or queer art, want a custom piece of art, or need a life model. Get in touch by emailing emoryartmodel@gmail.com to discuss what you’re looking for.