Emily Yao is a second-year undergraduate student at Brandeis University majoring History and Philosophy. Her academic life is surrounded by legal history, crime and delinquency, and twentieth century radicalism. She wants to find the underlying logic and psychology behind nationalism and collectivism, but she self-identified as a citizen of the world. She has visited museums and galleries all across Eurasia but ended up writing legal arguments and research papers on a snowy hill in North America.

Besides being a writer, Emily is a photographer who carries three cameras while traveling around the world. Her artworks are largely inspired by her experience and thoughts. Through her lens, you can see her humanistic perseverance, the colorful autumn as her favorite season, the throbbing light and thought-provoking geometric structures, and her daily life during her semester abroad in Florence, Italy.

Writing and photography fill Emily with a sense of awe and devotion to the world, and it keeps her inquisitive when she looks back at the past while anticipating a future that has yet to be captured through her lens and pens. Check out her photos and articles in this portfolio website.