emiland kray//
inferno

emiland kray is a visual artist working primarily with book arts and game design. his work investigates the complexities of memories and dreams, by manipulating our attachment to nostalgic forms. he was born and raised in las vegas, nevada and in 2023 he received his mfa from the university of arizona with a portfolio of traditional watercolor, book arts, and game design.

kray was the winner of a 2025 distinguished book award from the miniature book society, has work in notable special collections such as the arizona poetry center, university of nevada, reno special collections, and the lilly library in indianapolis. kray continues to make art with a focus on community involvement and collaborative projects, through initiatives like troctopus press, the octopus anthology, and partnerships with several non-profits and public libraries throughout the american southwest. with a focus on accessibility, you can find many of his books in libraries around the united states and find his games free to play online.


my artwork poses questions about the mechanics of how we remember and what we fear – the complexity that exists within those entangled systems. with book arts, game design, and drawing, i visually introduce instances of slippage in our recollection of the past and the decay of memory towards nostalgia and nightmare. through my work, i gather and sift through intangible archives: dreams, night terrors, and memories themselves to find how these elements make statements about the importance of memory but also the futility and impermanence of life.

inferno is an interdisciplinary body of work that combines the structure of dante alighieri's divine comedy with imagery from my vivid nightmares and reflections on mental illness. including intricate ink drawings, artist books, sculptures, poetry, and games, inferno acts as a mirror for both artist and audience to question how we can go on while the world seems to be unmaking itself – caught in a state of collapse like an unyielding engine. utilizing my dream journals as source material , inferno creates a narrative that humanizes the working class struggle, defined by a steady decline in mental and physical health and financial independence, and complicated with the unwavering determination to persevere.

i use the systems of remembering hidden within the body to make statements about identity, fear, and longing, but also to search for the morphology of nostalgia. through my eclectic mix of chosen mediums i create tension between the real, surreal, and uncanny. this combination disrupts the recognizability of the archive and thus also disrupts the stability and the seductive nostalgic essence of the past. these techniques pose the past as questionable, memory as simulation, and evidence as incomplete. my work seeks to make visible our growing pains, and to reject comfort in the notion of a perfect genesis.

// click to view the online game //

// click to view the online game //

Through me you pass into the city of woe
Through me you pass into eternal pain
Through me among the people lost below

To rear me was divine blame
Before me things worn and faces drear
To misery doomed, these creatures deign

The toils of travel, but a gate draws near
A just hand before it pounds with surety
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”


Ink on paper, NFS | 14”x10.5” | 2025

Through me you pass into the city of woe
Through me you pass into eternal pain
Through me among the people lost below

To rear me was divine blame
Before me things worn and faces drear
To misery doomed, these creatures deign

The toils of travel, but a gate draws near
A just hand before it pounds with surety
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

Ink on paper, NFS | 14”x10.5” | 2025

Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. Then I was still more fearful of the abyss


Ink on paper, NFS
13”x15.5” | 2024

Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. Then I was still more fearful of the abyss

Ink on paper, NFS | 13”x15.5” | 2024

Why did I jump?" I mused on my blunder
As the jaws closed around me, all was damp
I was surely heading for my eternal slumber!

The chamber was cramped
but I squeezed through
To find the stomach lit by a lamp

"Hello? I was eaten like tiramisu,
I'm lost and afraid, is anyone by yonder light?"
I asked, towards the glow I pursued.


Ink on paper, NFS | 9”x10” | 2025

Why did I jump?" I mused on my blunder
As the jaws closed around me, all was damp
I was surely heading for my eternal slumber!

The chamber was cramped
but I squeezed through
To find the stomach lit by a lamp

"Hello? I was eaten like tiramisu,
I'm lost and afraid, is anyone by yonder light?"
I asked, towards the glow I pursued.

Ink on paper, NFS | 9”x10” | 2025

Lunge


Ink on paper, NFS | 8.5”x8.5”
2025

Lunge

Ink on paper, NFS | 8.5”x8.5” | 2025

The Glutton


Ink on paper, NFS | 5.5”x6”
2025

The Glutton

Ink on paper, NFS | 5.5”x6” | 2025

Dream Eats Memory


Meander book, letterpress print, inkjet print on paper, apoxie clay, acrylic paint, silk ribbon, edition of 18

Book: 1.75”x2.25” Enclosure: 4”x2”x3” | 2025

Dream Eats Memory

Meander book, letterpress print, inkjet print on paper, apoxie clay, acrylic paint, silk ribbon, edition of 18

Book: 1.75”x2.25” Enclosure: 4”x2”x3” | 2025