The 2026 Lenscratch 2nd Place Student Prize Winner: Em Wall

The 2026 Lenscratch 2nd Place Student Prize Winner: Em Wall by Kris GravesAugust 4, 2026

©Emily Wall, Anoint

It is with pleasure that the jurors announce the 2025 Lenscratch Student Prize 2nd Place Winner, Em Wall. Wall was selected for their project, Consider the Lilies They recently received from their MFA from Yale University. The 2nd Place Winner receives a $1000 Cash Award, a feature on Lenscratch, a mini exhibition on the Curated Fridge, and a Lenscratch T-shirt and Tote.

Em Wall creates deliberate visual narratives that examine identity and domesticity, collaborating with her children to interrogate how structural beliefs and lineage impact everyday life. Her imagery balances deep personal history—where generational memory, inherited garments, and intricate kinship lines collide—with a rigorous reflection on faith. What began as a way to document her home life has evolved into an ongoing series, shaped most recently during her time at Yale University. Ultimately, Wall’s work captures the deep connections of family, using the camera to examine the past while offering a subtle glimpse of what lies ahead.

Em Wall was born and raised in Michigan, where they grew up in a large Mormon family. They use photography to dismantle and dissect relationships. Em wrestles with Mormon culture and doctrine that doesn’t fit their conceptions of gender and sexuality, along with the way they uphold, transform, or fail to escape the domestic traditions handed-down. Their images are not big acts of rebellion, but rather meant to subvert ideas of religious patriarchy and the belief that they have a monopoly on spirituality. Em received their BFA from Brigham Young University in 2020 and their MFA from Yale University in 2026.

Instagram @emwall

©Em Wall, Baptism

For a long time I did everything according to the book: I was obedient in a strict Mormon household, went on a Mormon mission, got married in the Mormon Temple, had four kids, and was a good Mormon wife. My beliefs started to splinter as I grappled with being queer, while being raised in a staunchly religious household. I continue to figure out my own morals outside the church and how to raise my kids without that belief system. This summer we went on a road trip to see church historical landmarks and places of familial importance. While the trip gave me some clarity, it also raised a lot of questions when my oldest son asked to be baptized. I’m trying to make room for my anger with religion and not pass it down to my kids the way Mormonism was dictated to me. – Em Wall

©Em Wall, Baptismal Font

Kris Graves: are these your kids we see?

Em Wall: Yes, I have four kids!

©Em Wall, Beehive

KG: Is your work a mix of candid and setups?

EW: I actually get this question a lot and I think it’s a bit surprising how not candid they are. That being said I do see things a lot in my everyday that I take note of and go back to. My kids are good sports and willing to play along with me if it means getting to be in a picture. I’m still taking lots of photos on the fly but usually in response to something I see in my environment and not a true candid.

©Em Wall, Tape

KG: what sparked your interest in a long form story about family?

EW: At some point I realized the only photos that I was taking that were interesting to me were the ones of my family. It also became a way of seeing how we were changing over the years, both physically and spiritually.

©Em Wall, Eternity Mirrors

KG: Is this a complete project, is it a lifelong work?

EW: This edit feels like I tied a neat little bow on it but as soon as I start thinking about sequencing it quickly unravels to include photos from before and photos that I have yet to take. I think a bigger edit also includes my queer siblings which helps complicate the images.

©Em Wall, Destiny

KG: is there anything you would like the viewer to understand about your work?

EW: For a bit I was stuck in my head about this being about religion and using my family as a means to get there but now I’m maybe more concerned with how religion and family crash into each other.

©Em Wall, Temple

KG: do your kids have favorite pictures?

EW: Any photo of them is usually their favorite. It gets hard for them to pick because when they see a photo they usually only think about the memories of us taking the photo. Though my second oldest, Jack, is especially proud of the one of him wearing the blue tape. It’s a nice reminder that I don’t always have to be thinking about the final image. The images can just be pictures of my kids.

©Em Wall, Reclined

KG: what was the biggest of surprises when at Yale getting your grad?

EW: I was surprised by how nice everyone was. I’m not really sure what I had envisioned but it was way more collaborative and not as competitive as I had thought it might be. The teachers also genuinely care about you as a person and about your photography. And Gregory’s jokes during crit.

©Em Wall, Pioneer

KG: what was your mindset about going to grad school, accompanied by children?

EW: I first started thinking about graduate school while I was finishing undergrad and a well meaning professor suggested a low residency program. I had two kids at the time and a low residency program admittedly made the most sense. Even so I was a bit offended by the suggestion. I realized that if I was going to go to the trouble of going to graduate school I might as well go to all the trouble I could. This carried over into actual grad school. Since I had bothered to relocate my family and kids from upstate New York to Connecticut and had taken a whole extra year to reapply to grad school because I had been waitlisted at Yale, then I had to give the actual experience my all.

For me that didn’t just mean giving school my all but also involving my kids as much as possible. It was important to me that they were still a priority. My oldest came frequently to crits and my youngest would often hang out with me in the computer lab. The week before my crits they would all bring dinner to campus and we’d eat together in the crit space.

KG: what is the oldest picture in your series?

EW: I started this specific edit last summer when I received a travel grant through the school. So the oldest of these is the image of the Manti Temple which was taken in June 2025. Then everything just sort of snowballed out of those summer pictures.

KG: do you have a picture that you like and nobody else does?

EW: I definitely have images I like for different reasons than other people. The question of how much context or even how to give context to an audience is still ongoing for me. For example the photo of my daughter Ruth at the cemetery is us visiting the gravesite of her great great grandfather. He had a complicated relationship with his daughter, my grandma, when he only left his abusive wife after my grandma was married with kids of her own and the damage was done. My grandpa’s family came from polygamists living in exile in Wyoming and somehow he and my grandma raised four normal-ish kids. My grandma also sewed dresses for me growing up that my mom meticulously saved for my future kids, one of which Ruth is wearing in this photo. I like this photo for a lot of reasons but also because of that context.