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Painting (MA)

Emma Prempeh

Emma Prempeh is a British artist with Ghanaian and Vincentian heritage based in London.

She studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths University of London, graduating in 2019 winning the Alumno/SPACE Studio Bursary award for 2020. In 2019 she won 1st place for the Ingram Collection Purchase Prize and was shortlisted as a participating artist in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2019. She exhibited her first international solo show In and Out of Time in Accra, Ghana in 2021.

She is currently a recipient of the Leverhulme Trust Arts Scholarship.


SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 In And Out Of Time, Ada\Contemporary Art Gallery, Accra

2020 Raise Your Glass, The LightBox Gallery and Museum, Woking

2020 The Faces Of Love, V.O Curations post residency solo show, Marylebone, London


SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 Spaces In Between, W1 Curates, Oxford street, London

2022 On Love, HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, Islington, London

2022 Friends And Family, Pi Artworks, Fitzrovia, London

2021 At Peace, Gillian Jason Gallery, Fitzrovia, London

2021 Mother Of Mankind, Ada \ Contemporary Gallery X Hofa Gallery, Mayfair, London

2021 Heart Of The Matter, Gillian Jason Gallery, Online

2020 Ing Discerning Eye Exhibition, Online

2020 Onward And Upward- Art In The Garden Of Life, Droog Gallery, 7A Staalstraat, Amsterdam

2020 Redressing The Balance #Woman Artists -The Lightbox, Woking

2020 Bloomberg New Contemporaries -South London Gallery, London

2019 Young Contemporary Talent Purchase Prize Exhibition, The Cello Factory, London

2019 Graduate Art Prize Shortlist Exhibition, Herbert Smith Freehalls , London

2019 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds

2019 Flock at the Buday Graduate Exhibition, At The Buday, London

2019 The Table Exhibition, Swiss Church, London


Show Location: Battersea campus: Painting Building, Ground floor

Emma Prempeh-statement

Prempeh's Current Paintings depict familiar aspects of her Caribbean domestic life through a focus on interiors and moods. The paintings are expanded through physical elements within the space intertwining with viewers as the partially defined figures and objects float freely through the space they inhabit.

Hints of imitation gold leaf portray the transitional journey between life and death, symbolising the memories family members leave behind when they pass away. Over time, the material deteriorates, much like we fade as we age. The patterns, objects and atmosphere bring in elements of her British Caribbean upbringing to play upon the notion of distant memories to recall feelings of nostalgia, loss, and intimacy.


Come Way Are We Go
Come Way Are We Go2022
Come Way Are We Go (install detail)
Come Way Are We Go (install detail)2022
Come Way Are We Go (detail)
Come Way Are We Go (detail)2022
Come Way Are We Go (Detail)
Come Way Are We Go (Detail)2022

You take a photo, she beams and the two men sit behind enjoying a drink, his phone rings, he beacons to the other ''Come way are we go''

Medium:

Oil, Acrylic, Iron Powder, Print and Imitation Gold Leaf on Canvas

Size:

76.2 x 121.9 cm
Go Liming
Go Liming
Go Liming (Detail)
Go Liming (Detail)2022
Go Liming (Detail)
Go Liming (Detail)2022
Go Liming (Detail)
Go Liming (Detail)2022

Conversation, food, drink and laughter - Liming

Medium:

Oil. Acrylic, Iron Powder and Imitation Gold Leaf on Canvas

Size:

190 x 145 cm
And so On
And so On
And so On (Detail)
And so On (Detail)2022
And so On (Detail)
And so On (Detail)2022

Et sic infinitum, a black women's version. Life After Death

Medium:

Oil. Acrylic, Iron Powder and Imitation Gold Leaf on Canvas with Projection

Size:

200 x 320 cm
Full Installation
And so and Come way are we go (Install shot)
And so and Come way are we go (Install shot)
Go Liming and And So On (Install Shot)
Go Liming and And So On (Install Shot)
Go Liming (Install Shot)
Go Liming (Install Shot)
Install View, media item 5

Install shot of Go Liming, Come way are we go and And So On

De Speeltuin
De Speeltuin
De Speeltuin (Detail)
De Speeltuin (Detail)2022
De Speeltuin (Detail)
De Speeltuin (Detail)2022
De Speeltuin (Detail)
De Speeltuin (Detail)2022

''De Speeltuin is an important piece from the development of my practice recently''

''De Speeltuin Depicts one half of a family portrait taken in Amsterdam as a child. The adult figures represent fragments of broken relationships and distance. Unlike saying - I forgive you for leaving me to grow on my own - this portrait tries to capture the importance of my mother and the absence of my father. The playground De Speeltuin attempts to capture the spirit of a child becoming at peace within a serious environment through play.”

Medium:

Oil, acrylic, imitation gold leaf, print and paper on canvas

Size:

190 x 145 cm

Leverhulme Trust