Born in 1969 in Kabwe, Zambia, Emmanuel graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1993. In 1997, The Ampersand Foundation made him the first recipient of the prestigious Ampersand Fellowship, which afforded him a three-month residency in New York. His first solo show in 2000, at the Open Window Gallery, Pretoria, was followed by three subsequent solo exhibitions in the Western Cape and Johannesburg in 2003 – 2005. In 2002, he was awarded first prize for AIR ON THE SKIN, in the Sasol Wax In Art Competition.

Emmanuel employs various media, including photography and film, to reveal layered visions concerned with his identity as a young white male living in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2004, Phase I of his ephemeral memorial installation THE LOST MEN PROJECT was launched on the Grahamstown National Arts Festival main visual arts programme to public acclaim. In April 2007 phase II of this project took place in Maputo, Mozambique.

In September 2008, his touring museum exhibition TRANSITIONS premiered at The Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg, featuring his critically acclaimed short film 3SAI: A RITE OF PASSAGE. TRANSITIONS began its international tour in 2010 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC, USA. In 2009, the film won the jury prize in the Short Film Competition at the 4th Africa-In-Motion Film Festival of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK and in 2010 it won Best Experimental in the Sardinia International Short Film Festival, Sassari, Italy. In 2011 it was nominated for Best Experimental at the IN-THE-PALACE International Short Film Festival, Balchik, Bulgaria. Emmanuel was selected as the Featured Artist at the 2011 FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa where TRANSITIONS MULTIPLES was showcased and in 2012, he was selected as a laureate for the Institut Français, Visas Pour La Creation residency, Paris, France.

Emmanuel lives and works in Johannesburg.