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National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC USA, 23 January – 23 August 2026. Untethered/Retethered , 2025, (تائه في العدم/مستعيد جذوره) (detail) Decommissioned, model T-10, U.S. military personnel parachute with severed suspension lines, detached harness with risers, 550 para-cord. High-definition video projection, stereo soundtrack, 7 min 26 sec. Parachute diameter: 35 feet. Harness dimensions: 30 x 30 inches (excluding suspension lines). Photographed by Mark Auslander. I'm deeply grateful and honored to be a part of this show, which has taken us on a long, winding road for preparation. Comprising nearly 60 objects created by LGBTQ+ artists from Africa and the diaspora, you may recall that Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art was originally scheduled to open in May 2025 but was postponed until now. An interesting article about the postponement was published in The Washington Post last year, while I was still in DC and you can read it here→ . Displayed in a section of the exhibition titled ‘Family’, Untethered/Retethered is a video installation depicting the verbal accounts of USA and Lebanese soldiers talking about some of the intimacies that exist between them and their ‘battle-buddies’. Sometimes humorous, other times poignant, they offer a glimpse into the military cultures of both countries and are layered over landscapes of Iraq and Afghanistan. The video is projected onto a US military paratrooper’s harness, splayed open and hovering in the suspended opening of its disconnected parachute. You can watch the 8 minute video of the installation below: The video installation is accompanied by a framed diptych of a ‘hand portrait’ of a Lebanese infantryman scratched into gunpowder residue and a ‘foot portrait’ of a US paratrooper scratched into boot polish. Luckily, the museum allowed me to install my work while I was still in DC and below are some pics from that week. It was such a pleasure to work with this extraordinary team of professionals! Thank you to the curators Kevin Dumouchelle and Serubiri Moses and the indomitable management and staff at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art for their resilience and conviction for putting up this show! If all goes well, I plan to be in DC for the launch of the fabulous Here book planned for launch later this year ... Connect to the National Museum of African Art website here → PREVIOUS NEWS POST Critical Commemorative Practices in The Lost Men France by Paul Emmanuel New academic journal article by Associate Professor Irene Bronner, University of Johannesburg published in De Arte , Taylor and Francis. 17 November 2025. Figure 1:   Paul Emmanuel. Installation view of The Lost Men France . 1 July 2014 to 1 October 2014, on privately owned land adjacent to the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. Photographed by Colleen Costick, 2014. Courtesy of Paul Emmanuel. This article examines South African artist Paul Emmanuel’s The Lost Men France  (2014), part of his ongoing Lost Men  project, as a critical intervention into dominant forms of memorialisation and public art. Installed adjacent to the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in Picardy, France, Emmanuel’s ephemeral installation challenges the nationalist ideologies and racialised exclusions of conventional war memorials, such as the erasure of Black South African servicemen from First World War histories. Drawing on Mechtild Widrich’s concept of performative monuments and on James E. Young’s framing of the counter-monument, The Lost Men France  is interpreted as a work of art that resists permanence, instead activating memory through vulnerability, absence, and embodied witnessing. This article argues that Emmanuel’s installation establishes a dialogical relationship with the Thiepval Memorial, both supplementing and unsettling its monumental authority. The installation foregrounds haunting and witnessing not as passive acts of remembrance, but as active, critical modes of engagement with the historical violence embedded in memorial forms. In doing so, it offers a reparative aesthetic grounded in fragility and contingency, proposing new forms of commemorative practice beyond the logic of state-sanctioned heroism. While #RhodesMustFall  frames recent calls to decolonise public monuments, Emmanuel’s long-standing performative interventions demonstrate a prescient critique, even with their ambivalences, of how patriarchal and racialised structures shape what and who is remembered. Read and download the article here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043389.2025.2563405

Montserrat College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. May 16, 2025 Paul Emmanuel receives Honorary Doctorate from Montserrat College of Art The framed Honorary Doctorate given at the ceremony A video recording of the commencement speech Paul Emmanuel delivers keynote address and receives Honorary Doctorate from Montserrat College of Art. The Zambia-born artist is currently a Fulbright Scholar and preparing for an exhibition of his work at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. A display of his work was also shown at the college. Read more

Judkis, M., The Washington Post,  Washington D.C. USA, May, 2025. Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art was originally scheduled to coincide with the worldwide Pride celebration in Washington. The museum postponed it until next year, citing a funding shortfall. Untethered/Retethered (detail) 2025, Decommissioned, model T-10, US military personnel parachute with severed suspension lines, detached harness with risers, 550 paracord, High-definition video projection, stereo soundtrack. This work is featured in Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art , National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Winter – summer 2026. Read the original article on washingtonpost.com Connect to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art website

Independently produced catalogues and other ephemera containing artworks created by Paul Emmanuel The Here Project: Pride and Belonging in African Art Editor: Kevin D. Dumouchelle Texts: Serubiri Moses, Binyavanga Wainaina, Mark Auslander, Ifeanyi Awachie Publisher: Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA, 2026. ISBN 1588348067, 9781588348067 See more → Faire L’histoire des Violences en Guerre Dir: Andrea Brazzoduro, Ken Daimaru, Fabien Thófilakis Publisher: Creaphis Editions, Paris, France, 2021. ISBN 978-2-35428-165-6 See more → Villa Arcadia: Views from the Ridge Text: Sue Blaine Publisher: Hollard Insurance Company Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2019. ISBN 978-0-620-83831-3 Contemporary Art Auction Text: Frank Kilbourn Publisher: Strauss & Co Fine Art Auctioneers/consultants, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2018. Booknesses: Artists’ Books From The Jack Ginsberg Collection Texts: Kim Berman, Rosalind Cleaver, Keith Dietrich, David Paton, Robyn Sassen, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Pippa Skotnes Publisher: University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017. ISBN 978-0-86970-769-8 International Academic Printmaking Alliance Invitational Exhibition Editor: Wang Huaxiang. Publisher: China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, China, 2016. ISBN 978-78860-5038-1 Rites of Passage Between Light and Shadow Text: Sulger-Buel Lovell. Publisher: Sulger-Buel Lovell, London, U.K. and Cape Town South Africa, 2016. ISBN n/a Representations of Otherness an Resistance Texts: Annali Cabano-Dempsey, Angela de Jesus, Heidi Hudson, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Wilhelm Van Rensburg. Publisher: Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2015. ISBN 978-0-86886-830-1 Battleground Texts: Michael Godby, Jeff Peires, Rod Hooper-Box. Standard Bank Gallery, Albany History Museum, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Publisher: Primavera Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa, 2015. ISBN 978-0-620-66482-0 Between Democracies 1989 – 2014: Memory and Commemoration Texts: Karen von Veh, Judy Peter, Richard Gregor, Cristian Nae. Publisher: University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2015. ISBN 978-606-547-266-2 Permanent War: The Age of Global Conflict Text: Pamela Allara. Barbara and Steven Grossman Gallery and Mrs. E. Ross Anderson Auditorium. Publisher: School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A., 2015. ISBN n/a Voir La Grande Guerre: Un Autre Récit Text: Annette Becker. Postface: Pierre Bergounioux. Publisher: Armand Colin, Paris, France, 2014. ISBN 978-2-200-28757-3 Doing Hair: Art and Hair in Africa Texts: Anitra Nettleton, Lesley Spiro Cohen, Connie Mashaba, Erin Bosenberg, Shayna Goncalves, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Paul Davis, Dipalesa Mpye, Susan Middleton, Hazel Cuthbertson and Laura De Becker. Publisher: Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014. ISBN 978-0-620-61860-1 2014 Centenaire de la Premiere Guerre Mondiale Prefaces: François Hollande, Kader Arif, Elrick Irastorza, Antoine Prost. Texts: Joseph Zimet, Rémy Pflimlin, Natalie Nougayrède, Jean-Luc Hees. Publisher: Mission du Centenaire de la Première Guerre Mondiale, Paris, France, 2013. ISBN n/a My Joburg Text: Sean O'Toole. Publisher: La Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris, France, 2013. ISBN 978-2-84975-301-9 Not My War Text: Natasha Norman. Publisher: Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2012. ISBN n/a Dak’Art: 10th Biennale of Contemporary African Art Foreword: Gérard Senac. Texts: Christine Eyene, Nadira Aklouche-Laggoune, Riason Naidoo, Brahim Alaoui, Mamadou Diouf, Yacouba Konaté, Daniel Sotiaux. Publisher: Le Ministère de la Culture et du Tourisme, Dakar, Senegal, 2012. ISBN n/a FNB Joburg Art Fair Forewords: Bernice Samuels, Roshene Singh, Lebogang Maile. Publisher: Artlogic, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2011. ISBN 978-0-620-51056-1 9th In The Palace International Short Film Festival Publisher: In The Palace International Short Film Festival, Balchik, Bulgaria, 2011. ISBN n/a 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam Publisher: International Film Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2010. ISBN n/a 4th Africa-In-Motion International Film Festival Publisher: Africa in Motion International Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K., 2009. ISBN n/a 12th Antimatter Film Festival Publisher: Antimatter Film Festival, Victoria, Canada, 2009. ISBN n/a Signature Pieces: The Standard Bank Corporate Art Collection Texts: Julia Charlton, Federico Freschi, Emile Maurice, Wilhelm van Rensburg, Monna Mokoena, Nicola Danby, Barbara Freemantle & Anitra Nettleton. Publisher: Standard Bank, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9814200-1-1 Vokabelkrieger IV: Schuld und Sühne Publisher: Sylt-Quelle / Hybriden-Verlag, Rantum, Sylt Island, Germany, 2009. ISBN n/a National Arts Festival 2009 Official Programme Publisher: National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa, 2009. ISBN n/a Post Apartheid Fragments: Law, Politics and Critique . (Book 14 of Imagined South Africa series) Edited by Karin Van Marle and Wessel Le Roux. Text by Wessel Le Roux. Publisher: Brill Academic Publishing, Berlin, Germany, 2008. ISBN 978-1868884056 La Mia Vita, La Mia Collezione (My Life, My Collection) Texts: Vittorio Meneghelli, Eva Viani and Karel Nel. Publisher: Totem Galleries, The Meneghelli Family, The Andrea Meneghelli Trust. Johannesburg, South Africa, 2007. ISBN 978-0-620-38246-5 Navigating the Bookscape: Artists’ Books and the Digital Interface Texts: David Paton, Jack Ginsberg and Robyn Sassen. David Paton. Publisher: FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006. ISBN 0-620-37094-7 Bag Factory Artists Texts: Meredith Randall. Publisher: Unisa Art Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa, 2005. ISBN n/a Making Waves: A Selection of Works from the SABC Art Collection Texts: Peter Matlara, Clive Kellner and Koulla Xinisteris. Publisher: SABC, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2005. ISBN 0-620-33139-9 Art @ Work: A Decade and More of the SASOL Art Collection Texts: Lucia Burger, Kathryn Smith, Teresa Lizamore and Brenda Jacobs. Publisher: Sasol Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2005. ISBN 0-620-33835-0 Waldsee 1944 Texts: Hedvig Turai. Publisher: 2B Foundation, Budapest, Hungary and Alma on Dobbin Foundation, New York, U.S.A., 2004. ISBN n/a ITCH (Volume 1 Issue 1). Text: Lisa Cohn. Publisher: Bell Roberts Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa, 2004. ISBN 0-6203-1894-5 National Arts Festival Publisher: Main Programme. National Arts Festival Grahamstown, Makhanda, South Africa, 2004. ISBN n/a The Ampersand Foundation Texts: Warren Siebrits, Jack Ginsberg, Emma Bedford and Lesley Cohn. Publisher: Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary Art, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2003. ISBN 0-620-31363-3 5e Triennale Mondiale de L’Estampe Petit Format Texts: Claude Wolff, Annie Clauzet, Jean-Louis Gautier and Claude Bouret. Publisher: Chamalièrs, Auvergne, France, 2000. Dépôt légal 2000 No. 1135 ISBN n/a Grafik – Saydafrika Publisher: Grafiska Sällskapets Galleri. Konstnärer för Afrika, Stockholm, Sweden, 1998. ISBN n/a Print – Exchange Text: Verle Rooms. Publisher: Frans Masreel, Kasterlee, Antwerp, Flanders; Artists Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa and Hard Ground Printmakers, Cape Town, South Africa, 1998-99. ISBN n/a Printmaking in a Transforming South Africa Texts: Philippa Hobbs and Elizabeth Rankin. Publisher: David Philip Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa, 1997. ISBN 0 86486 334 9

Paul Emmanuel, contemporary artist. Creator of ‘Rising-falling’, ‘Substance of shadows’ and ‘The Lost Men’. Untethered/Retethered (تائه في العدم/مستعيد جذوره ) (detail) 2025, featured in Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art , Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 23 January – 23 August 2026. See more→ Untethered (detail) 2024, featured in MICA Grad Show III , Maryland Institute College of Art, 27 September – 13 October 2024. See more→ Parade of shadows featured in If You Look Hard Enough You Can See Our Future, Newcomb Art Museum, 10 March – 20 June 2025. See more→ Substance of Shadows, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery. 11 September – 2 October 2021. See more→ The Lost Men Mozambique featured in Cartographies of Becoming, The Sylt Foundation, 24 December 2021 – 30 December 2022. See more→ Rising-falling, General Louis Botha Monument, 15 June 2021. See more→ Paul Emmanuel, published by Wits Art Museum, 2020. See more→ Men and Monuments, Wits Art Museum, 3 – 18 March 2020 and 6 – 30 April 2021. See more→ Impermanence, Fried Contemporary Gallery, 8 March – 7 April 2018. See more→ The Lost Men France, Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, 1 July – 1 October 2014. See more→

Independent critical writings about the artworks and practice of Paul Emmanuel Irene Enslé Bronner Critical Commemorative Practices in The Lost Men France by Paul Emmanuel De Arte, 1–23. Taylor and Francis, November, 2025 Print ISSN: 0004-3389 Online ISSN: 2471-4100 Read more → Mark Auslander and students enrolled at American University Museums, Difficult Dialogues and Social Repair Transcript of an interview with Paul Emmanuel conducted by students in an undergraduate, anthropology course by Professor Mark Auslander at American University, Washington D.C., U.S.A., May, 2024 Read more → Paul Emmanuel Untethered: Exploring Intimacy and Estrangement in Military Culture and Civilian Society. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art, May, 2024 Read more → Irene Enslé Bronner Light on loss in new works by Paul Emmanuel. 'Image and Text' no 36, Taylor and Francis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, November, 2022 ISSN 2617-3255 Read more → Karen von Veh and Landi Raubenheimer Memorials, Landscape and White Masculinity: Dialogic Interventions in South African Art. 'Image and Text' no 36, Taylor and Francis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, November, 2022 ISSN 2617-3255 Read more → Mark Auslander Altered Carbon: Dramas of Detachment. Reflections on Paul Emmanuel's Substance of Shadows. 'Moving Cube', University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, September, 2021 Read more → Adelheid von Maltitz Art, Place, Death: The Transformative Power of Dynamic Thresholds. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa, July, 2021 Document ID: 2002119739 Read more → Mark Auslander and Pamela Allara Platform Number 5: Paul Emmanuel. 'Art Beyond Quarantine', Online blog, Mark Auslander, June, 2020 Read more → Karen von Veh The Material of Mourning: Paul Emmanuel's Lost Men as Counter-memorials. 'Image and Text' no 34, Taylor and Francis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, December, 2020 ISSN 2617-3255 Read more → Ellen Schasttschneider, Mark Auslander and Pamela Allara Ex Unitate Vires: Paul Emmanuel. 'Art Beyond Quarantine', Online blog , Mark Auslander, April, 2020 Read more → Mark Auslander Veil 1954: Paul Emmanuel. 'Art Beyond Quarantine', Online blog , Mark Auslander, April, 2020 Read more → Pamela Allara Carbon dad 2017: Paul Emmanuel. 'Art Beyond Quarantine', Online blog , Mark Auslander, March, 2020 Read more → Pamela Allara and Mark Auslander Between Men and Monuments: The Art of Paul Emmanuel. 'Art Beyond Quarantine', Online blog , Mark Auslander, March, 2020 Read more → Pamela Allara Shrouds on the Somme's Body 'Paul Emmanuel', Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa, March, 2020 ISBN 978-0-620-87116-7 Karen von Veh Where Have All the Young Men Gone? 'Paul Emmanuel', Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa, March, 2020 ISBN 978-0-620-87116-7 Annette Becker Paul Emmanuel: The Lost Men France (2014) 'Paul Emmanuel', Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa, March, 2020 ISBN 978-0-620-87116-7 Karen Von Veh The Politics of Memory in South African Art. 'De Arte', UNISA Press, Pretoria, South Africa and Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK, February, 2019 ISSN 0004-3389 Read more → Andrew Peter Swanepoel Repositioning the Problematic Gender Formation of a Generation of White South African Men Through Performance Art Dissertation submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master of Visual Arts at The University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, August, 2018 Robyn Sassen Your Name, My Body. 'My View: The Arts at Large', Robyn Sassen, Johannesburg, South Africa, March, 2018 Read more → Johan Thom Impermanence: Paul Emmanuel. 'Paul Emmanuel: Impermanence', Fried Contemporary Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa, March, 2018 Read more → Matthijs Sluiter The Lost Men Project. 'Fonts in Use', Fonts in Use LLC, Oakland, California, USA, 2018 Read more → Paul van Capelleveen Paul Emmanuel, The Lost Men Project. 'Reading is Touching in The Art of Reading', Museum Meermanno, The Hague, The Netherlands, November, 2017 Read more → Pamela Allara Paul Emmanuel: The Counter-memorial in the Age of Permanent War. 'Aesthetic Justice', College Art Association Conference, New York, USA, February, 2017 Read more → Pamela Allara Shrouds on the Somme: Paul Emmanuel's World War I Counter-Memorial. 'Paul Emmanuel: Remnants', Boston University Art Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, January, 2016 Read more → Pamela Allara Mechanized Bodies: From the Armored Body to Technological Vision. 'Permanent War: The Age of Global Conflict', School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, January, 2015 Read more → Clare Humphries Material Remains: The Afterlife of Personal Objects. An project submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, pp 228 – 231, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, October, 2014 Read more → Annette Becker À guerre mondiale, art mondial. 'Voir La Grande Guerre – Un Autre Récit', Armand Colin, Paris, France, October, 2014 ISBN 978-2-200-28757-3 Read more → Dominic Thorburn Borderline – Sweeping a Mind Field. ‘Borders & Crossings’ IMPACT 8 International Printmaking Conference, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK, August, 2013 Read more → Irene Enslé Bronner The 'person without the person' in the early work of Paul Emmanuel. 'De Arte', UNISA Press, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. Volume 85, 2012, pp 42-58. ISSN 0004-3389 Read more → Pamela Allara Diane Victor and Paul Emmanuel: Lost Men Lost Wor(l)ds. 'Gender and South African Art' in 'African Arts', MIT Press Journals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Volume 45, No. 4, October 2012, pp 34-45. ISSN 0001-9933 Read more → Pamela Allara Paul Emmanuel’s Transitions: The White South African Male in Process. 'NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art', Duke University Press, North Carolina, USA. Issue 28, November, 2011, pp 58-66. ISSN: 1075-7163 Read more → Michael Smith FNB Joburg Art Fair Featured Artist Paul Emmanuel. 'ArtThrob', ArtThrob, Cape Town, South Africa, 2011 Read more → Irene Enslé Bronner Initimate Masculinities in the Work of Paul Emmanuel. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts of Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa, 2011 Document ID: 2108 Read more → Robyn Sassen Under Covers: South Africa’s Apartheid Army – an Incubator for Artists’ Books. 'The Blue Note Book: Journal for Artists' Books', CFPR, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, Volume 3, Number 1, October, 2008. ISSN 1751-1712 (print) 1751-1720 (online) Read more → André Croucamp Conversations on the Transience of Light. 'Transitions', Art Source South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008 ISBN 978-0-620-41945-1 Read more → Aryan Kaganof Interview with Paul Emmanuel. 'Kagablog', Online blog, Aryan Kaganof, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008 Read more → Robyn Sassen Of Circumcising and Circumscribing and Understanding Where I Fit In. 'Transitions', Art Source South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2008 ISBN 978-0-620-41945-1 Read more → David Paton The Sound of a Book: Sound as Generator of Narrative in the Reception of Selected New Media Objects as Books. 'Image & Text', No. 13, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, 2007 ISSN 1020 1497 Read more → Robyn Sassen Attention Seeking Images. 'IMPACT International Printmaking Conference', Tallinn, Estonia, 2006 Read more → David Paton Interview with Paul Emmanuel. 'Navigating the Bookscape: Artists’ Books and the Digital Interface', David Paton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006 ISBN 0-620-37094-7 Read more → Robyn Sassen Navigating the Bookscape: Artists’ Books and the Digital Interface. 'Navigating the Bookscape: Artists’ Books and the Digital Interface', David Paton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006 ISBN 0-620-37094-7 Read more → Julia Charlton Drawing out of the Darkness: Contemplating after-image. 'After-image', Paul Emmanuel, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2004 ISBN 0-620-32295-0 Read more → Lisa Cohn The Lost Men. 'ITCH', Volume 1 Issue 1, Bell Roberts Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa, 2003 ISBN 0-6203-1894-5 Read more →