Emma Baiada
2021 Fallingwater Institute Artist-in-Residence

Emma Baiada makes films from life. Inspired by the traditions of observational documentary, her work relies on simple uses of video and audio to represent deep ways of being. She creates from a belief in the divine mundane, and, through an approach unconcerned with narrative convention, she aims to produce an atmosphere that exists somewhere between reality and dreams. Central to her process is a period of prolonged immersion, enabling her to form reciprocal relationships that engender true reverence and embodied understanding. Her first feature film, “Song of Salt,” about the isolated mining town of Trona, California, has screened at various international film festivals and won numerous grants and awards. She is in the first year of a multi-year project about biodynamic agriculture, the regeneration of soil health, and the spiritual forces that humans can nurture within the farm organism. In addition to making her own projects, she’s worked for nearly a decade as a documentary producer with companies such as Academy Award-winning Tremolo Productions, for clients like Focus Features, Showtime, and Netflix. She most recently dedicated her time to living and working in a lifesharing community for those with and without special needs, where she enjoyed and was challenged by the intimacy of relating without the shield of a camera.
About Fallingwater Institute
When Edgar Kaufmann jr. entrusted Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963, he envisioned Fallingwater not only as a place where visitors would come to experience great architecture, but also where a deeper experience of art, design and nature might occur.
Kaufmann imagined that Fallingwater could become a place where artists, scholars, designers and learners might come to find inspiration from the building and its landscape while pursuing individual or group study. Today, the Fallingwater Institute, formally established in 2015, honors that vision by providing a stimulating location for creative collaboration and inspired thinking through immersive classes, workshops and residencies. By serving an international community through its innovative programming, the Fallingwater Institute works to create and disseminate new ideas that promote harmony between people and nature.