Engaging with concepts of memorial and public grief, The Lost Men is exhibited as a site-specific temporary installation in selected sites which bring their own history and relevance that engages the content of the work. The viewer encounters the installation which reflects the artist's personal expression presented in a specifically selected public arena.
The artist's process involves casting in lead type the names of men who died in the conflicts at a particular battlefield. These are thereafter blind embossed onto his body. These fleeting impressions are photographed before the temporary bruising fades. Images of the artist's marked body and skin are then printed onto large, delicate, semi-transparent voile and silk organza sheets which comprise the installation and which are then installed, hanging in the landscape and left to the elements.
Phase one of this outdoor site-specific memorial installation The Lost Men Grahamstown was launched in July 2004 on Monument Hill at the National Arts Festival. In May 2007, phase two, The Lost Men Mozambique, was installed on the Catembe Ferry Jetty in Maputo, Mozambique. The Lost Men France will be phase three of this ongoing project.
The Lost Men France will be an entirely new installation planned to coincide with the 100th commemoration of World War I which commences in 2014 in France. In the battles that were fought in the Verdun/Normandy/Delville Wood areas during 1916, many South African soldiers died. The Battle of Verdun is known as the single worst land battle ever fought. It had the most casualties ever recorded in any war.
The residency was awarded to Emmanuel specifically to conduct the necessary research for his planned project The Lost Men France. The project has as partners the Institut Française (IFAS) Paris and Johannesburg, Centre Mondiale de la Paix, Verdun, France and The Delville Wood Memorial, Longueval, Somme, France. The project is and managed by Art Source South Africa.
