Emmanuel Louisnord Desir

Let My People Go is Emmanuel Louisnord Desir's third and most ambitious exhibition with the gallery. In this presentation of new sculptures, Desir pushes iterative forms and concepts rooted in religious and spiritual inheritances, historical persecution, and Afrodiasporic experience.

The title of the exhibition, Let My People Go, is taken from the Old Testament: “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness” (Exodus 5:1 [KJV]). Referencing this particular biblical scene, in which God’s chosen people are being led away from their Egyptian oppressors, Desir alludes to the freedom of movement inherent in God’s stated directive. The sculptures comprise industrial materials and reference machines—the metal frames and rubber tires of ATVs—reassembled and interwoven with the artist’s own vernacular bronze casts. Desir’s use of contrasting materials, shiny gold bronze and the high-tech silver of chrome, and rich allegory embody tensions between the ancient and modern, the handcrafted and machine-made. These works transcend the past and the future, creating connective arcs across different temporalities as well as older and forgotten civilizations and religious narratives.