Photographer and filmmaker [Emma Tillman](https://www.emmaelizabethtillman.com/photography), after a decade long career intimate self portraiture, the artist her first monographed entitled _Masterpiece_. Her expansive oeuvre has included many different mediums of art, but this book is a perfect culmination of Tillman’s artistic vision.
_Masterpiece_ is not the only thing Tillman has been up to in recent years. In 2018 the artist directed and created the music video for “[God’s Favorite Customer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNG4g354P3w)”, a song by her husband, Father John Misty. The video is an exquisite long one-shot piece that maps a man’s, Father John Misty’s, walk through the city alone as the rest of the city sleeps. Tillman’s visual mind compliments Joshua Tillman’s musical one, making this into perfect marriage—no pun intended.
Tillman revisits that solitude in her monograph, a testament to her ability to explore individual presence and isolation. Her artistry is deeply ingrained in intimacy and seclusion—but it rarely feels like a self pitying one. _Flaunt_ had a chance to speak with the artist about her past and upcoming work below.
**How did you decide to put your work into this book? Did you always envision these images in book form?**
I wanted to create this book as a farewell to this body of work, similar to my first book, Disco Ball Soul, which was a collection of images from my life over the last 10 years. Both serve as a way to close a chapter of my artistic life and put a fine point on it, if you will. To set it off to sail and have people receive it how they will. I don't know if I always envisioned the self portraits as a book, but I did see them as a collection, certainly. I can see the value in watching myself change and grow and age, and hopefully there's value for someone else to see those things too.
**Can you talk about how the portrayal of the female form has changed over time?**
I don't know if I'm the best person to give a history lesson, because I hope to discard all that I know about the female form to make myself guileless enough to capturing it, but I do know that there are certainly artists that shaped my understanding of the female form and how to us it in appreciation for ourselves as part of universe. Andy Goldsworthy comes to mind. He works with the deep feminine shapes of the earth; circles, swellings, spirals, and decay.
But to talk specifically about how it has changed, I'm not sure. There remain some constants. Everyone wants to look at the female body, everyone wants to touch the female body. Men and women alike, maybe it's more interesting to think about what doesn't change.
**What does the word "masterpiece" mean to you?**
I think it can be quite simple. It just says; a body, a self, is an expression of the universe and if we are speaking in definitions, "a work by which the craftsman attains the rank of master" then I can say confidently that I am not the craftsman in this case, only the messenger.
**You often have a camera in your photos. Do you think an acknowledgment of the medium is needed for your self portraits?**
In my case, the answer to this is simple. At some point the self timer on my camera broke, so since then I have been relegated to having the camera in my self portraits, making them in mirrors. Before that I often used the self timer and it is much more liberating!
**What was it like to work with your spouse and combine art forms? Do you share an artistic mindset?**
We do share an artistic mindset, and that is incredibly fun and rewarding, but we also have strengths and weaknesses that tend to be the opposite of the other. So we have a very good system of supporting the other to get to a real, raw place when we need or ask for help. This is such a gift, I can't even tell you. I fear I would be more sentimental or less purposeful as an artist if he wasn't there encouraging me to always choose the most direct connection to the work.
**Has the solitude of Covid changed your perception of yourself? Did it affect your photographic mindset?**
For me it has changed many aspects of the way I view life, or rather that it has brought to the surface some very powerful feelings about life that I hadn't articulated to myself. I feel like I have to jump off this crazy carousel for a while. I don't have the ambition I once had, I don't think things will ever return to normal nor should they. There are a few farewells, this book is one, and then I would like to continue to turn my attention to other things. I still am taking a lot of photographs, but the personal ones I have no intention of showing. I am more interested in interiors and landscapes.
**Was there any particular inspiration behind the long shot style of the "God's Favorite Customer"?**
The inspiration and intention was only to serve the song. When I listen to that song, it is so evocative of loneliness and longing, especially being in a city surrounded by people sleeping while you're the only one awake. That's often a painful but beautiful, sort of liberating feeling, especially after a few drinks. I try to stay true to the songs when making videos for my husband. We're working on another one right now, it's similar in the way it follows the narrative of what he's trying to say.
**As you have a range of subjects, objects, and locations–do you find yourself more drawn towards subject or setting?**
Setting, absolutely. Setting dictates everything. There must be mystery, openness, a pleasing set of shapes and forms. There must be a certain light. Then the subject follows and I ask the same questions of it. If those things are all in harmony I will run to get my camera.
**What photo of yours sticks with you the most–whatever that means to you–your favorite, most influential, most personal?**
I love the photo of me in the tall grass. I was living in rural Brittany, France with my boyfriend at the time. We lived in a little tiny stone cottage way out in the country, close to the sea. It was a complicated time in my relationship. I was only 22 and living in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language well at all. I would take these long walks to the beach to get away from everything. It was early winter, and anyone who has ever been to Brittany or Normandy knows there's an incredible wet cold there that gets into your bones. So I would trudge out there and sometimes I would bring my camera. I was sitting in the dunes that particular day, among the tall grass, watching it blow to and fro in the cold wind. I thought, I should take a picture here. But I didn't want to be bundled up in my coat, or to have any shapes of clothing among these beautiful beach grasses. So I stripped down and took the photo. It took a few tries. I can see in my face how cold it is outside, but I love this photo. I feel like somehow it evoked all those feelings I had at that time; anguish and loneliness spiked with that great, wide appreciation of my natural surroundings.
Masterpiece is available to [purchase](https://www.tiredeyespublishing.com/product-page/masterpiece-self-portraits-by-emma-elizabeth-tillman) from Tired Eyes Publishing. For more about the artist visit her [website](https://www.emmaelizabethtillman.com/photography).
