‘the lost men‘ by paul emmanuel is a series of site-specific, temporary, outdoor installations that aim to engage with memory, memorials, and public grief. each selected site has a relevance steeped in its own histories as well as engaging the thematic content of emmanuel’s imagery. the first exhibition of the project took place in grahamstown, south africa, and was installed on monument hill. the second phase was implemented in maputo, mozambique, with the ephemeral artwork installed on the catembe ferry jetty. now, the third work of the series has been installed adjacent to the largest british first world war memorial in the world, thiepval memorial to the missing of the somme. the installation is a non-partisan, ‘counter-memorial’ that reflects on impermanence and forgetting. the term refers to the idea that it does not glorify war, but poses questions about masculinity and vulnerability. it also challenges the exclusion of people in traditional memorials – in particular black south african servicemen. this concept is embodied by five, 5 by 5 meter silk banners hung along rue de l’ancre, a public road which runs from the memorial towards lonsdale cemetery, where headstones mark the graves of soldiers who died in WWI. the sheets bear photographs of emmanuel’s body with the names of french, german, south african and allied servicemen who fell on the western front. the names were pressed into his skin, without reference to rank, nationality, or ethnicity. the banners will be left in this landscape to the wind and the elements; possibly to disintegrate over time.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 20:42:57 +0000