"Are you seeking a unique artistic project tailored to alternative visions?
Emanuelson is always excited to collaborate with individuals, organizations, or institutions to bring new ideas to life. Whether it’s a custom photography series, a thought-provoking installation, or an in-depth artistic research project, she work closely with commissioners to develop meaningful work that resonates.
Commissioning an artist is not just about creating something beautiful; it’s about telling a story, exploring a theme, or expressing an idea in a profoundly personal or impactful way. Together, we can push creative boundaries and create something truly one of a kind."
"If you’re curious or inspired by her work and have a project in mind—or even just the seed of an idea—contact Emanuelson through the contact form.
On this website, you can learn more about Emanuelson’s work, process and find updates on current and upcoming events
My name is Sharelly
Over the years, it has become clear that I like to explore my world and the world of others through observations and art-making. I do that by using film, video, installations, and photographs and sharing the outcome of this unique inquiry process with a wider audience.
MANA, Aruba, 2024
“It is an honor to collaborate with institutions and organizations that embrace curiosity and foster contemporary reflections. I bring a commitment to creating new, meaningful works that not only enrich the spaces they inhabit but also provide added value through their resonance and relevance. My work invites dialogue and exploration, making it a unique and impactful addition to your programs or collections.”
Curacao Museum
Ateliers '89
National Archaeological Museum Aruba
Rijksmuseum
CBK Zuidoost
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
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You will receive an update from me twice a year. Before, between, and after that. You can find updates on my social media or this website.
Quotes about my work
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Haar identiteit hangt samen met mijn identiteit en ik voel gêne opkomen over het feit dat ik nooit eerder op deze manier geconfronteerd ben met de situatie en het verleden van het Caribisch Nederlandse gebied. De confrontatie, die zowel in het werk zit als tot uiting komt door interactie met het publiek, is iets wat Emanuelson erg toegankelijk weet te maken.
Kiki Mertens, Metropolis M Magazine, 2024
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The work of Sharelly Emanuelson illustrates this importance, emphasizing that we had and still have tradition, history and culture. Thinking about and experiencing the vastness of the Caribbean, it all looks and feels disorderly. It is multilingual, sonically oriented, loud and clamorous, and in of itself a carnival, embodying all the characters. Sharelly’s work brings order in some measure.
Charissa Granger, Text “Unearthing knowledges Reflecting a (more hidden) side of our reality in this Kingdom”, 2024
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Van Velsen koos Emanuelson omdat ze in staat is ‘de schoonheid en complexiteit van het leven op de Caraïbische eilanden te visualiseren.’ Haar multimediale werk draagt volgens hem bij aan de kennis over ‘onze doorgaande relatie met de overzeese gebieden.’ Ook prijst Van Velsen de waardevolle aanjaagfunctie die ze vervult met haar kunstplatform UniArte.
Vincent Van Velsen, Nominatie Volkskrant beeldende kunst prijs 2020
Capitalism and global politics are known factors that resulted in climate change significantly impacting all islands where environmental disasters are rapidly increasing. The work "Siudadanos," a 2-channel audiovisual installation, is characterized by a multimodal assemblage of Emanuelson's recordings where she lets us immerse in images of St. Maarten after Hurricane Gonzalo (2014). "Siudadanos" pours you with voices, sounds of wind & sea, miscellaneous ambient noise, singing birds, the barking of neighbourhood dogs, and different music genres. Emanuelson's first-hand interviews, sounds & video recordings offer an appreciation of life on St. Maarten and explore the various reasons for divergence, the residue of the colonial era, and the subsequent period of hyper-industrialization in the Caribbean. In recognizing the ever-changing plurality of the population of the islands, she shares contemplative thoughts of islanders on provoking ideas around national unity within a continuously changing and growing population on the Dutch side.
Siudadanos
During exhibition “Nexus”
MOCA, Taipei, Taiwan 2023
“Tene A”
Adapted from “Tene”
MANA, Aruba, 2024
For 2022, Emanuelson photographed the theme of Sustainability in the Netherlands and the six Dutch Caribbean islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Maarten.
What does sustainability look like in the Netherlands and the six Dutch Caribbean islands? Sharelly Emanuelson explored the relationship between humans and their environment in light of climate change and the impact of everyday actions on it. Emanuelson grouped the photographs in the exhibition around various themes in which human activities are always central. The photographs show how people deal differently with water management, erosion, and waste disposal. These consequences are large or small, temporary or permanent.
“Tene”
during exhibition Document Nederland
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2023
En Mi País” is a video installation, Framed as 1 tour with many guides, a voice leads you on, instructing you to keep moving along this imaginary excursion. The characters pace up and down when giving their story, in which the rhetoric and repetitive speech pattern reminiscent of well-rehearsed tours mingled with personal anecdotes of locals to provide commentary on Aruba and on Main Street, which has gone through a rise and decline of prosperity in part as a result of tourism.
This installation plays with the idea that important events are discussed at the table. Because traditions such as eating together with the family at the table in Aruba are changing, I have worked with a projected ‘tour guide’, which through a voice-over reflects changing norms and values in the Caribbean, such as the presence of old and the rise of new capitalist infractures, cultural loss of memory and social problems such as such as addiction and violence. En Mi Pais invited viewers to reflect on questions such as What is the real value if the information and knowledge of what one’s country has to offer merely becomes a repeating dictation and not a self-awareness or understanding of context and cause and effect? Who is investigating, documenting, narrating and showing our multiple selves and social/human needs?