In Presence and Absence is a series of new works by Emma Prempeh. The series continues Emma’s exploration of themes around the home. Through depictions of her memories, people, places and relationships, the artist uses paint and text as a ritual to explore selfhood, transformation and purpose.
The tonal properties of her paintings enjoy warm, darkened earthly tones with a strong presence of blackness to invoke and project memories of events, people, and places that emphasise her appreciation of ancestral time and relationships, selfhood and transformation.
Emma Prempeh is the winner of the 2022 Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize.
The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust was established in 2006 after the death of Valerie Beston (1922-2005), who was renowned for supporting and nurturing the careers of many of the leading artists working in London throughout her extraordinary fifty-year career.
The charity was established to support artists at the beginning of their careers; it has since collaborated with the Royal College of Art to award an annual prize to a postgraduate student selected from its degree show. The prize comprises a studio for a year at SPACE, a financial contribution towards materials, tutorial support generously provided by the RCA, and a solo exhibition at the end of the year, held since 2020 at Ordovas.
