The Faces of Love is the culmination of Emma Prempeh's residency at V.O Curations and encompasses the variegated understanding of the concept of ‘love’ through the lens of the artist’s phases of life. Comprised of various facets, ‘love’ unravels sentiments of loneliness, excitement, death and melancholy, highlighting familial ties, friendships and past lovers. Through the search of spirituality, Prempeh analyses existential questions that are projected upon her reality; the fear of death, memory, ancestral ties.

Dark, earthy tones on the canvas carve out a space for the figures to rest, unidentifiable, in a temporal and spatial hole. Physical limitations are not present, no walls or lines to define the area and the figures are free to roam the space they inhabit. Prempeh plays upon the notion of distant memories, creating ubiquitous spaces that evoke a feeling of longing and safety. Faces and figures are slightly delineated, playing into the mystification of memory and the effects of a questioned reality. The only figures that appear in stark contrast, strikingly visual and precisely outlined, are those Prempeh relates to more closely; herself, her mother and grandmother. In Bereaved the main subject is the intergenerational relationship between her family members, mirroring the passage of time, reflected also in the clock behind the figures. The subjects exude an aura of protection through their gaze: the grandmother observes the spectator with a placid stance, while the mother tenderly contemplates the child. 

Imitation gold leaf can be glimpsed on the canvas surface of the majority of Prempeh’s work; it is a signifier of the inevitable and ineluctable passing of time. Applied only on certain figures, it symbolises a memory, a presence that is no longer physically present but represents a strong connection for Prempeh. Over time, the material deteriorates, similarly to the deterioration of memory and people who have passed away. Prempeh’s work often includes the use of fabric as a way to transfer the surface onto a more physical, three-dimensional state, as well as print, taken from her diary or other materials, enhancing the image’s emotional charge. Windows Of Emotion exemplifies Prempeh’s use of fabric and words in the context of self-identification and definition, as the artist portrays herself surrounded by books and a white fabric covered in entries from her personal diary.