EDUCATION
2015 – 2017 MA Photography, Royal College of Art, London, UK.
2012 – 2015 BA (Hons) Photography, London College of Communication, London, UK
2011 – 2012 Foundation Diploma Art and Design, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2010 – 2011 Foundation Diploma Art and Design, Folkuniversitetet, Stockholm, Sweden
SHORT COURSES
2026-2027 – On Friendship and the Political Imaginary, HDK-Valand, Academy of Art and Design (distance)
2026 – Kulturskolans Didactics: photography and film, HDK-Valand, Academy of Art and Design (distance)
2025 – Dance and Philosophy, Södertörns University, (distance)
2024 – Methods of Writing in an Artistic practice, HDK-Valand, Academy of Art and Design (distance)
RESIDENCIES
2023 ISSP Riga, Latvia
2022 DUPLEX, Lisbon, Portugal
2022 PADA Studios, Lisbon, Portugal
2020 Officina, Berlin, Germany
2019 SÍM Korpúlfsstaðir residency, Reykavik, Iceland
2018 Studio4 Residency at Chisenhale Studios, London, UK
2016 Arts Letters & Numbers, Albany, New York, US
AWARDS
2022 ISSP Nordic - Baltic Scholarship
2021 Nordic Culture Point Grant, Mobility funding.
2021 The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, International exchange and travel grant
2020 The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, International exchange and travel grant
2020 Nordic Culture Point Grant
2020 Shortlisted for Contemporary Calgary
2019-2020 A Woman’s Work – Creative Europe Programme of the EU
2019 Helge Ax:son Johnsons Grant
2018 Longlisted for Berlin Art Prize
2016 Otto and Charlotte Mannheimer foundation
2015 Postgraduate support scheme grant, Royal College of Art
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2024 Touch me not, Forget me not, Bolette, Drammen, Norway
2024 Touch me not, Forget me not, Estufa Fria, Lisbon, Portugal
2020 Belly of the Beast, Artists & Allies, Sankt Studio, Berlin, Germany
2018 Clench, Lady Beck's, Leeds, UK
2018 Walls have Tongues, Chisenhale Art Place, Chisenhale studio 4, London, UK
2017 Sloppy Tails, A Corner With, London, UK
GROUP
2026 Good Soup, Gallery Rotor2. Gothenburg, Sweden
2026 Nós ossos, SWIT, Kinesiska muren, Gothenburg, Sweden
2026 Supermarket art fair, Stockholm, Sweden
2026 Detriti gallery, Micromonument, Gothenburg, Sweden
2024 Studio Tabac, Salon #1, Stockholm, Sweden
2024 Autobiography of a Paper, Brussels, Belgium
2023 Der Greif, Past & Present: Weekend at Pinakothek der Moderne, München, Germany
2022 PADA Studios, Barreiro, Portugal
2021 Sculptural Landscapes, Galleri Format, Malmö, Sweden
2021 Fleshy Poems/Tuning Tentacles, exhibition and performance in collaboration with Katja/Kay Taavitsainen, Sankt Studio, Berlin, Germany
2021 Performing Dawns, curated by Tom Lovelace, Hoxton Gallery, London, UK
2020 Foto festival Lenzburg
2020 Odesa Photo Days
2019 Der Greif, Berlin Photo Week, Kraftwerk, Berlin, Germany.
2019 Rehearsing the Real, Copeland Gallery, Photo London, Peckham24, London, UK
2019 Falling Upwards, Alte Münze, Berlin, Germany
2019 Keep Your Eyes Peeled, AFF Gallery, Gallery Weekend, Berlin, Germany
2019 SÍM (Samband íslenskra myndlistarmanna) Reykjavik, Iceland
2019 Departure, Arrival, Return, Kunsthaus KuLe, Transmediale Vorspiel, Berlin, Germany
2018 Field(s), Sluice, London, UK
2018 Landskrona Photography Festival, Sweden
2018 The Salamander Devours its Tail Twice, Gallery 46, London, UK
2018 Emerge/ncy, Galerie Mausefalle, Transmediale Vorspiel, Berlin, Germany
2017 Making It Real: Analogue LDN at Ugly Duck, London, UK
2017 Degree show | MA Photography, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2017 At Home She’s a Tourist, curated by Tom Lovelace, Copeland Gallery (with tours for Photo London VIP, The Photographers’ Gallery and Tate Patrons) London, UK.
2017 Tate Modern, Offprint London, self-published book Curved Spine, London, UK
2016 Brighton Photo Fringe | S.KIN Journal, group exhibition; The Unfold, Brighton, UK
2016 Tate Modern, Offprint London, self-published book Moving Mountains, London, UK
2016 Aether, Imperial College, London, UK
2016 Work in Progress show | Royal College of Art, London, UK
2015 Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
2015 The Kitchen Gallery, London, UK
WORKSHOPS
2026 Participated in a workshop initiated by Nicolás Jaar as part of Intonal Festival, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, Sweden.
2023 Workshops held for photography youth students at the ISSP Skola, ISSP, Riga, Latvia.
2019 Co-facilitated workshop with Tom Lovelace Possibilities of the Photographic Body, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK.
2018 Gester, workshop held at Kunstnernes Hus as part of Praksis Collaborative Residency, Oslo, Norway.
2018 Walls Have Tongues, workshop held for children from East London elementary schools as part of Chisenhale Studio 4 Residency, London, UK.
PROJECTS | COLLABORATIONS
2026 Performer in JAG ÄR EXTREM - SÅ FORT JAG FÅR EN KÄNSLA SÅ DÖR JAG
AS SOON AS I GET A FEELING I DIE by Lilith artist duo, Galleri Box.
2023 Conceived and led Renegades, a site-specific flash mob performance with local participants in response to the deposition of a Soviet monument in Riga, Latvia.
2020 Co-founder Chapters with Trine Stephensen, a curatorial project that invites artists to engage in collaborative exchanges of sharing work in progress with focus on the dialogue as material.
2020-2021 Co-founder Artists & Allies + Berlin. Adam Broomberg and Emma Bäcklund along with other artists occupied a church in Kreuzberg, and formed the collective Artists + Allies x Berlin. Together they organized multiple in-person and online workshops, talks and exhibitions.
2020 Participant in A Woman's Work, European Prospects, Edinburgh, Scotland, that explored photography and digital media to challenge the dominant view of gender and work in Europe through artistic collaboration and exchange as well as the co-production of exhibitions, publications and online resources, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2019 – 2020 Co-curator and member of Lagoon Parliament, a collective that organised exhibitions with dynamic public programmes and talks spanning cross-disciplinary fields, Berlin, Germany.
2020 Collaboration with Adam Bromberg and Mack books on photographic collages.
2017-2018 Field/s - A forum of twelve artists, curators and photographers from different parts of the world initiated by Thom Bridge. Aims to promote transnational, cross-generational and interdisciplinary discussion between professionals in the arts. The forum started as an Artquest-funded project in 2017 and has been hosted at Photographers’ Gallery and Gasworks Gallery in London.
TEACHING | TALKS
2024 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, BA Photography, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal
2023 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, ISSP Skola, youth photography school, Riga, Latvia
2021 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, Professional Development Fine Art course, Farnham University (online)
2020 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, The University of Greater Manchester, BA Photography (online)
2019 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, London College of Communication for BA Photography, University of the Arts London, London, UK
2018 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, Swansea School of Art, BA Photography, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea, UK
2017 Visiting Artist and Guest Tutor, London College of Communication for BA Photography, University of the Arts London, London, UK
CURATORIAL
2021 Programmed workshop led by poet CA Conrad, CAConrad (SOMA)TIC POETRY RITUALS, Artists & Allies Berlin, Germany. (Online)
2021 Assistant curator, Peepal & Banyan, Thx Again, Haus Der Statistik, Berlin, Germany.
2020 Curated Joshua Leon reading AN UNFINISHED HISTORY OF GLASS followed by a conversation with Léon Kruijswijk, curator at KW. Hosted by Artists & Allies Berlin, Germany. (Online)
2020 Co-curator,Chapter One, exhibition organised by Chapters hosted by Artists & Allies. Artists exhibited; Ramona Güntert and Sam Williams. Berlin, Germany. (Physical exhibition with an online tour)
2020 Curated conversation between voice actress Susan Bennett (original voice of Siri) in conversation with writer McKenzie Wark, Artists & Allies Berlin, Germany. (Online)
2020 Programmed conversation between artist Jeremy Hutchinson and simulated Mark Zuckerberg, Artists & Allies Berlin, Germany. (Online)
2020 Event and program director, Artists & Allies Berlin, Germany.
2019 Co-curator of Falling Upwards, Lagoon Parliament, Alte Münze, Berlin, Germany.
2019 Co-curator of Departure, Arrival, Return, Lagoon Parliament, KuLe, Berlin, Germany.
2017 Curator Paper, Publication and Performance with Jonathan Miles. The six weeks exhibition included a series of week-long artists takeovers by Esther Teichmann, Chantal Faust, Juan Cruz, Nigel Rolfe and more, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK Lychee One Gallery, London, UK.
2016 Co-curator of The Unfold, exhibition with participants of S.KIN Journal, Brighton Photo Fringe, Brighton, UK.
2015 Curator of reading performance program Voice, Gesture, Sound, reading performance series with participants from Royal College of Art, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK.
PUBLICATIONS
2026 The Elbow Is Not Far From the Mouth, but I Still Cannot Lick It, self-published photographic publication. Exhibited at Supermarket Art Fair with Svenska Fotografers Förbund (SFF)
2023 Renegades, self-published zine created with youth students at ISSP Skola.
2021 Included in A Woman's Work, European Prospects.
2018 Included in Still Life Magazine founded by Hamish McPherson.
2017 Curved Spine, London, self-published zine exhibited as part of Off-Print, Tate Modern, London, UK.
2016 Moving Mountains, self-published zine exhibited as part of Off-Print, Tate Modern, London, UK.
2016 S.KIN Journal, self-published journal bringing together photographers exploring the body as a theme. Later presented as an exhibition at Brighton Fringe festival 2016.
ONLINE FEATURES
https://www.rodrigoorrantia.com/essays/on-touch/
https://www.europeanprospects.org/programme/emma
https://www.bjp-online.com/2017/05/peckham-24
https://intern-mag.com/emma-backlund/
https://www.rca.ac.uk/showcase/show-rca/emma-backlund/
https://www.sim-residency.info/SIM-Projects
https://stilllifemag.org/Less-Habitual-Grip
https://dergreif-online.de/contributors/emma-backlund/
https://dergreif-online.de/artist-feature/emma-backlund/#content-slider-old
https://photoworks.org.uk/showcase-emma-backlund/
https://www.praksisoslo.org/residents-list/2018/9/emma-bcklund
http://www.alvarmagazine.com/thoughts/emma-backlund/
https://www.bjp-online.com/tag/emma-backlund/
https://www.acornerwith.com/emma-backlund
https://www.source.ie/graduate/2015