Emma Woolley is a Birmingham-based contemporary portrait artist working from her studio at the Custard Factory in Digbeth. Her practice centres on intimate, psychologically charged portraits that explore themes of connection, memory, and emotional presence.

Working primarily in oil, she creates close-cropped faces that remove environmental context, drawing focus to subtle expression, surface, and human vulnerability. The work often sits between stillness and tension, inviting the viewer into a quiet, reflective space.

Alongside her fine art practice, she works as an art director, leading visual projects across branding, publishing, and film in the UK and internationally. This dual practice informs her work, combining conceptual clarity with a strong visual language.

She is a core member of In Full Flow.

Website: www.emma-woolley.co.uk IG: @emma_woolley_artist

Work

A curated selection of recent work is presented here. For a fuller view of Emma Woolley’s practice, please visit her official website:
www.emma-woolley.co.uk