Emma Prempeh Captures 'Belonging' in Flux at Tiwani Contemporary
Cinematic works that explore shifting Caribbean landscapes.
Tiwani Contemporary in Lagos is kicking off its 2025 exhibition program with Belonging In-Between, a solo showcase of works by Emma Prempeh. At just 28, the U.K.-born artist has already made a mark with her distinctive, rich impressionistic paintings. The exhibition comes fresh off the announcement of her inclusion in Pharrell Williams’ upcoming Femmes exhibition in Paris.
In Belonging In-Between, Prempeh captures her mother’s homecoming to St. Vincent, four decades after migrating to London. The trip marked a profound encounter with the places and spaces that shaped her mother’s early life, prompting a wider reflection on matrilineage and the stories that make a family.
At the heart of the exhibition is, as the gallery notes, “Prempeh’s pursuit of understanding what home or belonging means as a diasporan subject.” With familial stakes in Uganda, Ghana, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom, the artist grapples with the shifting complexities surrounding identity and belonging as integral, elusive and, at times, deeply confusing.
This personal exploration culminates in a series of lush, cinematic compositions, where figures, interiors and plant life fold into one another. The works are punctuated with gold leaves of schlag metal which mirrors the fluidity of memory itself – changing, rusting and transforming with each passing moment.
The exhibition is now on view through May 24, 2025.
Tiwani Contemporary
13 Elsie Femi Pearse St,
Victoria Island, Lagos 106104,
Lagos, Nigeria
