Wake, 2007, work on paper

Hadassah Emmerich plays a discordant symphony of colonialised exoticism within compositions of schizophrenic painted foliage. A space where hyperreal mysticism enchants the viewer with a plethora of figures entangled in all consuming euphoria. Composing a heady mix of carnivorous plants intermingled with the idealised faces of colonial expectations Emmerich pursues a path unlike any others. These plants are of the same dark quality as J.K. Huysmans decadent character Des Esseintes’ in A Rebours, and are organisms chosen for their husky scents of decomposing flesh and mortal qualities. Indeed these images herald an impossible past of an idealised beauty, of a world that never was except in the minds of long gone western conceptions. Transfixed in an involuntary voyeurism we are caught in an ever-expanding universe of volatile dreams and passions that stare darkly back at us with all their presence of hopeless beauty.
Emmerich’s environments also serve as a reminder of humanity’s vain, and at times questionable dreams, and of its failure to bring such delicate life and desires into being despite all intentions otherwise. The nature of the exquisite and fragile experiences always craved is here served up as a most alluring drink,

incredibly enticing and yet of the darkest consequences should it ever touch our lips. (Michael Bank Christoffersen for the 'Solitude' catalogue, 2006)