EMEKA UDEMBA
Bodies in Motion
12 September - 10 October 2026
Temple Muse presents Bodies in Motion, the second edition of its Salon Series, featuring new works by Nigerian-born artist Emeka Udemba. The paintings show the Black body as a space in motion, shaped by moving between places and negotiating where we belong.
Working across acrylic on paper and canvas, Udemba’s paintings explore the body not as a fixed identity, but as a place where different histories, encounters and possibilities meet. His figures exist between places and states of belonging, carrying traces of both the home left behind and the new worlds they encounter.
“The body is not a sealed essence but a crossing-point of everyday practices and encounters”
Emeka Udemba
Slideshow
The figures in Udemba’s work move beyond individual portraiture, reflecting the different experiences and encounters that shape our sense of self. Colour and layering give the works their depth, allowing different forms and fragments to sit alongside one another. The figures remain anonymous, yet they are full of presence, drawing attention to the ways Black bodies are seen, represented and understood.
At the centre of the work is a question of belonging. Udemba considers the relationship between the home left behind and the new home, and how memory, identity and the desire to fit in can shape the way we understand ourselves. His paintings leave these questions open, inviting us to look, move through the work, and find our own points of connection.
Emeka Udemba
Emeka Udemba is a Nigerian-born artist who works and lives in Nigeria and Germany. His practice explores identity, memory and belonging through painting. Working with acrylic on paper and canvas, he uses colour and layering to create figures that are anonymous yet full of presence.
His work has been exhibited across Nigeria, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa, Cuba, Mali and Switzerland. Udemba’s paintings consider the Black body as a space shaped by the idea of home, the memories we carry, and the places we leave behind.