Emilia Evans-Munton is a sculptor currently working between London and Glasgow. Her practice is intuitively led by the textural qualities of materials; speaking both personally and universally to the equally tender and harsh qualities of nostalgia and memory that come to contextualise her sculptures. The final works often encourage the audience to return to a (perhaps repressed) state of childlike fascination and wonder.
In this piece, Emilia revisits early memories of her late grandad, ‘Pops’. Sparked by finding a collection of her grandfather’s old ties, the sculptor uses this as a material to return to memories of her towering grandfather when she was a little girl, their respective heights bringing young Emilia face-to-face with his tie when embraced in a hug. The personal, referential nature of the work is taken even further by the sculpture being made to match his exact physical height. Emilia’s grandad was diagnosed with dementia, and the artist uses this piece to try and understand the complex unraveling of memory, both collective and personal.
Having been selected to exhibit in RSA New Contemporaries 2026, I was able to create a new large scale installation after graduating to present to the public in such an amazing institution, which was very exciting as an early career opportunity. I was also invited to deliver my first artist talk as part of the New Contemporaries exhibition which was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on and talk confidently and in depth about my work to an audience.
Since graduating I have also achieved a Guinness World Record in association with my work, for ‘World’s Largest Sock Monkey’, and was awarded Visual Arts Scotland’s Graduate Award, two opportunities which have validated and encouraged me to work on a large scale and continue to take up space as a young female sculptor. These opportunities have enabled me to remain driven and motivated by my sculpture practice.
