Presentation

Emmie Nume is a Ugandan artist born in 1999 in Kampala, Uganda. From March to June 2021, he was artist-in-residence at Silhouette Projects, under the aegis of Afriart Gallery. Since the beginning of this first residency, he has propelled his artistic expression into his own distinct visual language. His paintings and drawings reflect a deeply intuitive practice. While focusing on portraiture, he captures the essence of emotions through spontaneous, free expression - devoid of any meticulous formal or academic calculation of his figures and scenes. His ability to combine spontaneous abstraction with figurative complexity testifies to the freedom he allows himself when creating. Working mainly in charcoal, pastel and acrylic on canvas and paper, Emmie Nume adds to her work the spontaneous use of collage and found objects, as well as other media and techniques. Nume's personal experiences serve as the starting point for her visual expressions - a language that questions the inner, the intimate, making the invisible visible and communicating with the viewer. Her own fragility and vulnerability confront the viewer in a bold way, almost giving the impression of having witnessed something too intimate. By attempting to capture what cannot be expressed in words, Nume allows the viewer to experience the nuances between depression and love, and between past and present. Its visual language is unafraid to evoke these unsettling and uncomfortable emotions in the viewer, who feels almost like a voyeur peering into someone's most fragile existence. Allowing himself to be a bold, honest observer of himself, he creates powerful, captivating expressions that ultimately become raw, dreamlike reflections of some of the most crucial moments in human life. Emmie Nume is a storyteller, creating characters and scenes with an oozing aura, vulnerable and full of softness and nuance. Empty stares into nothingness and moments when the world continues its usual routine while hers seems to have come to an uncomfortable halt, speak, on closer inspection, of change and evolution. Nume presented his first solo show WHEN THOUGHTS ATTACK ME in 2023 at Afriart Gallery. He has participated in the group shows I DRAW, THEREFORE I THINK (South South Platform, 2021) and WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Afriart Gallery, 2022), as well as Art Basel Miami Beach, Liste Art Fair Basel, Joburg Art Fair, ARCO Lisbon and Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Since February 2023, he has been artist-in-residence at the Tracey Emin Foundation in Margate, UK.