For this week’s ART WITH DEEDS feature, we’re proud to highlight Emmanuella Aliu, a bold and introspective artist whose work exists at the intersection of emotional complexity, playfulness and social intention. From childhood doodles to dynamic multimedia experiments, Aliu has cultivated a style that resists boundaries—one that’s less about perfection and more about truth, in all its forms.
Aliu’s recent work emerged from her preparations for a group show in Philadelphia, held in April. Invited by curator and creative force Renee Wilson, the opportunity sparked a deeper exploration into Philly’s diverse and unfiltered art scene. What she found was a place that valued difference, a city where the unconventional wasn’t just accepted but celebrated.
“The art scene is super diverse out there,” she shares. “I realized I could honestly do whatever type of art I wanted, and people would still receive it as art. There’s this openness and respect for different styles.”
One particular piece by a local artist who goes by “Irregular”—a glass-crafted graffiti-style eagle—left a lasting impression. It was a moment of clarity, a reminder that art doesn’t have to fit into a box. That realization continues to inform her creative freedom and fuels a visual practice rooted in emotional spontaneity.
Among Aliu’s growing body of work, one piece stands out for its raw emotional resonance: Bald Medusa. Originally untitled, the name stuck over time, becoming a kind of mythos in itself. Born from Aliu’s personal experiences with anxiety and depression, the piece doesn’t attempt to hide or soften its source material. Instead, it reimagines it.
“It was my way of expressing what my anxiety and depression looks like to me,” she says. “But instead of making it something scary or sad, I wanted to show that it can still be beautiful in its own way.”
Viewers often interpret the piece in wildly different ways—some see a fairy, others a goblin. But to Aliu, Bald Medusa is exactly as she imagined: a powerful feminine figure stripped of convention and adornment. It’s that duality, personal origin versus public perception, that makes the piece so compelling.
“That’s what makes it special. It came from something personal, but everyone sees something different in it.”
Aliu’s creative process is intentionally fluid, often sparked by chance moments. It might be a powerful frame from a movie, a striking lyric in a song or a fleeting facial expression during a conversation with a friend. Her approach is more about capturing a feeling than following a formula.
“Sometimes I’ll be watching TV, and I’ll see a frame that’s just … really wicked. I’ll pause it, take a pic, and later sketch it out on my iPad,” she explains. “Other times, I’ll be listening to music and just feel the visuals forming in my head.”
A lover of animation and character design, she often draws inspiration from cartoons, appreciating the freedom and emotional range that stylized figures can communicate. Her influences range widely, and that diversity shows up in her pieces, which feel lived-in, relatable and refreshingly unpredictable.
While drawing has always been second nature to Aliu—tracing back to her early years in primary school—she resists being seen solely as “an artist.” Her vision stretches beyond the canvas. For Aliu, art is a means to connection, and her ultimate goal is to create spaces where other underrepresented creatives feel safe, celebrated and heard.
“I feel like I was meant to be a door, a platform for other people, especially artists who don’t feel seen or heard,” she says. “That’s what drives me more than anything.”
She dreams of owning a community-driven gallery: part workspace, part classroom, part sanctuary. A place for workshops, studio time, late-night jam sessions and deep, affirming conversations about the power of creativity. Her goal is rooted in access and representation, two things that remain limited in traditional art spaces.
“Minority representation in the art world is still so small, and I want to help change that.”
Right now, Aliu is deep into her colour grading series—an experimental exploration where she redraws the same artwork in completely different colour palettes. The result is a fascinating study of how mood, tone and narrative shift based on hue alone. She’s also having fun reinterpreting cartoon characters with similar energies but from vastly different worlds, blending universes and testing visual identities.
This playful, multifaceted approach is central to her practice: experimenting with variations, leaning into imperfections and allowing art to surprise her. Through each piece, Emmanuella Aliu continues to challenge the expectations of what art should look like. In doing so, she invites us all to reimagine the power of expression on our own terms.
