Here and There

May 11 - 21, 2022

Special Reception: May 11th, 5-7pm with an Artist talk at 6pm!

Strata Gallery presents its fifth Emerging Member solo exhibition, Here and There by Florida based artist Emmanuel Manu Opoku. The exhibition opens May 11th, with a special reception from 5-7pm.

Emmanuel Opoku’s practice investigates the aesthetic value in objects and transforms a variety of materials to express how time and space change cultural values and histories. With dramatic sense of humor, he draws inspiration from his assemblage sculptures and transcends that into his paintings to suggest the significance of experience as a diasporic artist.

Emmanuel Opoku states “Inspired by my nostalgic experience in Ghana, I am fascinated by the fact that objects help us to discover cultures and histories and tell us who we are. My work builds new personal narratives and new meanings for familiar functional objects that are transformed. The surrealistic use of juxtaposition and ambiguity implicates the process of reassessing my diasporic experience in the US.”

Emmanuel Manu Opoku received his BFA in Painting from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Florida. Emmanuel has had 4 solo exhibitions in Palatka (FL), Gainesville (FL), Deland (FL), and Wilmington (NC) and recently his work has been included in groups shows in Delaware, Philadelphia, and South Carolina.

Emmanuel Manu Opoku, Person in the Mirror, Acrylic on Canvas, 42” x 42”, 2021