Notes

 Zambian-born, Johannesburg-based, Paul Emmanuel graduated with a Fine Arts Degree from Wits University. Initially inspired by a personal dream, Vault of Breath has become one of Emmanuel’s seminal works; it is one of his first artistic explorations of a landscape and served as inspiration for his internationally celebrated, site-specific installation The Lost Men France (2014). The filmstrip-like sequence of images depict a recorder on a washing line, being twisted and manipulated by an unseen, yet forceful wind. The soundless wind instrument contributes to the poignancy of the vast emptiness of the landscape. Based on the Gariep Dam, an ambiguous and unearthly place, a sense of isolation, absence and contemplation is evoked. Emmanuel used the laborious manière noire technique to create this series of lithographs, which involves the complex process of scratching black ink from the surface of the printing stone to create detailed surface textures.

Emmanuel’s work resides in a variety of collections including the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Pretoria Art Museum, UNISA, and SABC. It has been widely exhibited including at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC and his films have received important international awards.

Provenance

Donated by the artist