Home / Arts and Entertainment / Artist Blends Homes: St. Vincent, Ghana, UK on Canvas
Artist Blends Homes: St. Vincent, Ghana, UK on Canvas
4 Sep
Summary
- Prempeh's art merges elements from Britain, Ghana, and St. Vincent.
- Gold leaf adds fading luminescence, mirroring memory.
- Inspiration drawn from artists Hwami and Cranston's techniques.
London-based artist Emma Prempeh, with roots in Britain, Ghana, and Saint Vincent, crafts art exploring the multifaceted concept of 'home.' Her current exhibition at Paris's Perrotin Gallery features paintings where geographical boundaries blur, such as coconut trees from St. Vincent appearing on British streets.
Prempeh incorporates imitation gold leaf into her work, a material that will subtly change and fade over time. This technique mirrors the evolving and often imperfect nature of human recollection and the feeling of belonging to multiple places simultaneously.
Her artistic journey has been influenced by other artists. Kudzanai-Violet Hwami's "Family Portrait" inspired Prempeh to embrace a more liberated approach to portraiture and abstraction. Andrew Cranston's "Echoes" and his immersive exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield museum encouraged Prempeh to experiment with color and the integration of text into her work.
One new piece, "Cedrus Libani" (2026), depicts a cedar tree in London's Crystal Palace district, a foreign species that has become a part of the U.K. landscape. This work reflects Prempeh's own experience of navigating multiple heritages, finding beauty and belonging despite feeling like an outsider.
