The Lost Men project is a series of site-specific, temporary, outdoor installations engaging concepts of memory and memorialisation.The artworks are non-partisan and make no political statements.

Each installation of this ongoing project relates to a specific historical battle site and is unique in its imagery, structure and format while maintaining conceptual consistency.

The artworks are installed for a defined period and re-evaluate events in South African history considered from a contemporary context.

The Lost Men, Grahamstown was installed on Monument Hill in 2004. The second in the series was The Lost Men Mozambique installed in 2007 on the Catembe Ferry Jetty in Maputo. The Lost Men France 2014 was the third installation of the series.

It was launched on July 1, 2014 adjacent to the Thiepval Memorial – the largest Franco-British World War One memorial in the world; near where thousands of South African servicemen died alongside their Allied comrades. The date was a significant date one for the British Commonwealth, France and especially the town of Thiepval. It was the day that commemorated the commencement of the Battle of the Somme in 1916; one of the most significant battles of the Great War.

Remembrance services were held at the Memorial to remember and commemorate the thousands of lives lost. Emmanuel’s installation was the only international art project selected by the Mission du Centenaire de la Premiere Guerre Mondiale – the organisers of the WWI Centenary.

In France the 2014 installation in particular points to the exclusion of black South African servicemen, from memorials such as Thiepval Memorial, whereas the names of white South African servicemen who died in the Battle of Delville Wood, are inscribed on the walls of this memorial.

In 2014 Emmanuel’s five silk banners hung along 300 meters of road bore the names of French, German, South African and Allied servicemen who fell in the terrible battles on the Western Front. Their names were photographed after being pressed into the artist’s body (his ‘canvas’), without reference to rank, nationality or ethnicity. By including black South African servicemen’s names, The Lost Men France 2014 questioned their exclusion from the walls of Thiepval Memorial.

At Freedom Park Remnants will showcase several photographic artworks from the artist’s previous Lost Men anti-memorials. There will also be an installation comprising of the remains of the silk banners that stood exposed to the elements on the Somme in France in 2014 for three months. These banners have never been exhibited in South Africa before. A short film on the artist’s production process to create the artworks for his installation will also be on view.

Emmanuel’s Remnants is presented by Freedom Park in association with Institut Français Afrique du Sud and Art Source South Africa.

The exhibition opens on June 25 and runs until July 31.