Rising Stars: Meet Emily Alber of Grosse Pointe Farms

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Alber. 

Hi Emily, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story starts with adoption. I was put up for adoption in 1983 after being ironically born on Gross Point Road in Skokie, Illinois (I was raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan). My biological mother carried me in Chicago after being lured by a baby broker in the 80s from an advertisement she saw in Bismarck, North Dakota. She was not treated very well or compensated properly for my birth (breach-of-contract happens for many natural mothers that are influenced baby brokers, which still goes on today) and a group of our adoptions led to the Federal Anti-Fraudulent Adoption Practices Act of 1984. She was very young. I recently found out from her that my birthdate was changed and since then, I have gone on a very deep trauma healing journey that has escalated my art practice and creative recovery. I believe you can very much see that in my work. 

I began exploring art after being put on probation for a DUI in 2017. I didn’t have alcohol to cope at that time with several feelings I was experiencing, and I wanted to explore that. I started writing music when I was very young, but the family I was placed with wasn’t creative, so I didn’t receive much support. At this time, I wanted to choose myself, my mental health, and my well-being. 

After eliminating most binge drinking, toxic connections, and other problematic patterning from my life over the past five or six years, I’ve learned a lot. I also recognize that for a long period of time, I had been toxic when I was engaged in those behaviors too. I think when you realize you are responsible for your own pain, you really have hit it big. Growth is painful. I’m still very much going through it. 

After having a hysterectomy and oophorectomy at the beginning of the pandemic to eliminate symptoms of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, I learned that I am level one Autistic and ADHD with other neurodiversities. I now understand that I am different not only because I am adopted, but because I have a different brain type and that’s okay. That discovery was honestly a trauma in itself that I am still recovering from… thank God I have art! 

I will be working soon with the brilliant Detroit film director Zach Hagy of Eightfold Collective on the upcoming launch of my YouTube channel discussing all of this plus living as a multiply neurodivergent artist with adoption trauma when timing works. The hope is to screen this at my next art show that will be at a restaurant in downtown Detroit this summer. 

I believe when you are given language to put with your experiences, your emotional intelligence grows and healing begins. I want to help share the language I have with others and not just in one way. I want to do that with my art and my creative projects. That’s my goal. 

I am also working on writing a book about my experience as a neurodivergent adoptee. I do not know when I expect to finish that project.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a mixed media artist, musician, and writer. I am known for my unique texture and ability to capture emotion. My personal story and ability to connect that with my growth as an artist in my personal network is what sets me apart from others. I am most proud of my journey toward living my life as my most true authentic self (this requires on some level engaging in a concept we call “unmasking” in the neurodiverse community… for me anyway). I don’t even know what that looks like yet. I just need to get over the humiliation trauma I live with and the fear of being ridiculed by my family and people from my past. 

One of my most exciting accomplishments so far, is when I had a Ruth Bader Ginsburg print take off after the original painting was gifted to the College of Education at American University in Washington DC by one of the original creators of the 1980s television program Reading Rainbow. Lynne Ganek is a wonderful woman and has given me a lot of confidence. That meant a lot to me. People really thrive when they feel seen. I hadn’t experienced that much before her.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see large-scale digital art combined with motion and live music performance in the future for myself and the industry. That’s probably already happening, but I have a specific visual I’m thinking of. I am currently designing shoe and clothing concepts that are very gritty. I think we are in a mental health crisis and people may not want to talk about it so they might be more comfortable wearing what resonates with their feelings and experiences. My YouTube channel, more writing and my book will be happening.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilyalberart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilyalberart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7WSEe-n0IpEh3L29PJVEg
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bedeliaemilia/  , https://twitter.com/emilyalberart

Image Credits
Emily Alber