Emmanuel Louisnord Desir

Emmanuel Louisnord Desir’s practice spans painting, assemblage, and sculpture, examining colonialism, spirituality, and biblical narratives, particularly the Abrahamic traditions and their resonance across diasporic histories. Drawing from biblical stories and teachings, Desir simultaneously questions the structures of canonical Christianity, using material and symbolic gestures to unsettle its relationship to colonial power. His oil paintings on wood panel construct layered visual fields of recurring symbols, historical references, and contemporary imagery. Through allegory, Desir connects personal and collective memory to broader political and historical forces, producing works that function as both critiques of inherited narratives and acts of spiritual recollection, testimony, and transformation.

Emmanuel Louisnord Desir (b. 1997, Brooklyn) received a BFA from Cooper Union in 2019. He has presented solo exhibitions at Sebastian Gladstone, Los Angeles (2024); 47 Canal, New York (2025, 2023, 2020); Jupiter Contemporary, Miami (2022); and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2021). Group exhibitions include presentations at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2026); the Rubell Museum, Washington, D.C. (2023); and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023). His work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Rubell Museum, Miami; and The Bunker, Palm Beach.