‘My practice expands TRADITIONAL notions of painting and sculpture by incorporating sound, found materials, and cultural MEMORY. I challenge conventional object-making through the metaphysics of AFRICAN oral traditions, where knowledge is not fixed but migratory, living, and ever-evolving. A guiding principle in my work is the AKAN proverb SANKOFA, meaning “to go back and take what is left behind.” It speaks to the necessity of retrieving what is meaningful from the past to SHAPE the present. 

SOUND is not an embellishment—it is a STRUCTURAL and SCULPTURAL tool. I'm fascinated by the POETICS of call-and-response, utilising it as a physical form, where RYTHM, voice, and material echo histories held in collective memory.’

Emmanuel Awuni, Days spent in the sun, 2023. Polyurethane, rosewood, glazed clay, oil paint, thread, mixed media fabric, pins, 120 x 166 x 12 cm / 304.8 x 421.64 x 30.48 in.