Biography

Born in 1980 in the USA, she lives in Brooklyn, NY. Emily Schiffer is a documentary photographer interested in depicting essential details of life that are often overshadowed by larger, more newsworthy circumstances. Emily received her BA in Fine Art and African American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. In 2005, she founded the My Viewpoint Youth Photography Initiative on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, where she continues to teach and shoot. In 2011 she co-created See Potential, a community engagement/public art photography project on Chicago’s South Side, which mobilizes residents to see potential in their community and create social change. See Potential installs documentary images on abandoned buildings to illustrate economic development initiatives of community leaders on the South Side of Chicago.