How would you describe your art?

I’m interested in light and colour, and I experiment a lot with process – I’m never just a painter or a photographer. It’s always a mixture of painting on top of photographs or printing them out and editing them, or using textiles to work with the images I find. It’s not ever symbolic or trying to say something political because I don’t feel like I’m qualified enough to say that yet. It’s about showing people what I’m interested in seeing. I’ll notice something and want to show people that I think it is beautiful or interesting. With light I’m interested in the way it moves through surfaces, windows, doorways or water, or is reflected on things.

To what extent is technology important to your art?

My work couldn’t exist without technology – I take all my photos on an iPhone and then paint on them. I find it interesting to look at things that are outside of the phone through the phone. But I like to think I’m making people look up a bit more, or around more.

How does art fit into your life?

I could never do it by itself, it’s always while I’m doing something else. So I will notice something and want to paint it or turn it into something while I’m doing something else. While I’m in Cambridge I’m never painting, but I collect a database of things that I’ve seen and then when I’ve got a bit more time I paint. I’d never do it as a career; I don’t think I’d be able to do it on its own. I have to be thinking about something else and be surprised by it. But I’d like it always to be something I do – I don’t want to forget about the way that I look at things. I think producing art makes me think in different ways, in a more visual way.

How does it interact with your English degree?

It has directed my degree much more than I thought it would because I’m always talking about painting, photography or how visual things work. I deliberately try not to write about art sometimes, but then I’m always drawn back to talking about aesthetics or the way people look at people or things. It’s turned into the way my brain works. I did a foundation year before coming to Cambridge, but I found that the parts I was really enjoying were writing essays and thinking about the way people thought about art, and I felt that I wanted to do more academic thinking before I committed myself to the practical side of art. But the foundation year helped me to experiment in ways I hadn’t before – it was where I learnt for the first time that it’s OK to paint on photographs and that isn’t cheating.

How do you feel about sharing your art with others?

It’s very strange. I feel quite vulnerable when I do it because I feel like it’s talking to people, bouncing ideas off them and showing them how I think and how I see. But I love it – I love seeing what people think of it and the reactions I get. Often it’s not what you think it’s going to be; maybe they’ll say it’s creepy or makes them feel uncomfortable. Sometimes people ask me what it’s about but it’s not about anything, I don’t want to be asked to turn it into words – if you see it and think it’s interesting that’s enough. I don’t care what people think as long as they’re just looking at it, thinking about it in a different way.

You can find out more about Emma’s work on her website, www.emmaveares.com. Her work will be exhibited in the Grid Art Fair at the end of October at Brick Lane, London. Emma is also helping to organise the John Hughes Art Festival 2017.