El Anatsui facts for kids

El Anatsui (born 4 February 1944) is a famous Ghanaian sculptor. He has spent most of his career working in Nigeria. He is known around the world for his amazing "bottle-top installations".

These artworks are made from thousands of aluminum pieces. He gets these pieces from places where alcohol bottles are recycled. He then sews them together with copper wire. These pieces become beautiful, metallic, cloth-like sculptures that hang on walls. Even though they look strong and stiff, they are actually soft and flexible. This makes them easy to move and arrange when they are put on display.

In 2023, El Anatsui was named one of the world's most influential people on the Time 100 list.

Early Life and Learning

El Anatsui was born in Anyako, a town in the Volta Region of Ghana. He was the youngest of his father's 32 children. His mother passed away, and his uncle raised him.

His first experience with art was drawing letters on a chalkboard. His school's headmaster noticed his drawings and gave him more chalk. Because he was very young, he saw the letters as interesting shapes, not just words.

Anatsui studied art at the College of Art and Built Environment (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana. He earned his first degree in 1968. The next year, in 1969, he received a special diploma in Art Education from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Some early artists who inspired him were Oku Ampofo, Vincent Akwete Kofi, and Kofi Antubam. These artists started to use local art styles instead of foreign ones. After finishing his studies in 1969, Anatsui became a teacher at Winneba Specialist Training College.

In 1975, he started teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He became a senior teacher in the Fine and Applied Arts department in 1982. Later, he became the head of that department and a full professor of sculpture in 1996. He held this important role until 2011. His time at the University of Nsukka connected him with a group of artists called the Nsukka group.

It is special that El Anatsui became famous worldwide while living in Nsukka. Many artists who become well-known usually live in big cities.

Amazing Artworks

Anatsui noticed that much of his art education focused on Western styles. He felt something was missing because it didn't include enough about his own culture. To fix this, he visited the National Cultural Centre of Ghana. There, he met many different artists.

It was there that he discovered Adinkra symbols. These are a system of signs and symbols. This was his first look at abstract art, and it opened up many new ideas for his artwork.

In the 1970s, Anatsui often worked with wood. He liked wooden trays, which he saw used in markets to hold food. He would carve or engrave them with Adinkra symbols using hot tools. He also made wall panels from wood strips. He decorated these surfaces with designs using chainsaws, tools, fire, or paint.

In the late 1970s, he started working with clay, especially pots. He explored ideas about how things break and change. He was interested in how a broken pot, even if it can't hold food or water anymore, can still be used in new ways. He found it interesting that broken pot pieces are sometimes used for spiritual offerings. He said that a broken pot seems to become special for spirits.

After working with broken pots, Anatsui explored food-related themes in other materials. He used wood again, making mortars (bowls for grinding). He also used equipment for processing cassava and, later, bottle tops.

Much of Anatsui's art uses materials he finds, or materials that were used for something else before. He focuses on the history of these materials. He likes how people have touched and used them. He feels this energy helps guide his art and connects it to the culture around him.

Metal bottle caps are one of his favorite materials. He says that bottle caps, like cloth, are very flexible. This allows him to think about his art as both sculpture (because of the cap shapes) and painting (because of the cap colors). He also likes that bottle caps show a bit of history and culture. The names and colors of different drink brands on the caps tell a story.

Anatsui believes that changing these used materials into art is very important. He likes that they are no longer just bottle caps. Instead, they make people think or wonder. This happens because they are moved from their usual use into a new art setting. They bring their own stories and identities with them.

Many ideas are found in Anatsui's art:

• Things breaking and then being put back together. This is like how Africa changed during and after colonial times.
• Traditional patterns and designs from West African woven cloth.
• Concerns about how Western scholars have sometimes misunderstood African history.

His art also connects to West African culture and ideas about what people buy and how they work.

The idea of Sankofa is also important in Anatsui's work. Sankofa means "go back and retrieve." He sees it as using lessons from the past to help move forward. For him, Sankofa meant looking at what was around him. Ghana became independent when he was in high school. Much of his education had focused on Western art. So, he felt he needed to "go back and retrieve" parts of Ghanaian culture that had been ignored. He called this a "quest for self-discovery."

Art Shows and Exhibitions

Man's Cloth (1998–2001) at the British Museum in 2009

Anatsui's art career grew slowly. It started in his home area of Nsukka. Then it spread to cities like Enugu and Lagos, and eventually around the world. In 1990, Anatsui had his first important group show at the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. He was also one of three artists highlighted in an exhibition called "Contemporary African Artists: Changing Traditions," which lasted for five years.

Since then, Anatsui has shown his work all over the world. Some places include:

• The Brooklyn Museum (2013)
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2008–09)
• The National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. (2008)
• The Venice Biennale (1990 and 2007)
• The Hayward Gallery (2005)
• The Kunstmuseum Bern (2020)

In 1995, Anatsui had his first solo art show outside of Africa in London. He showed many different themes. He proved that African art can be displayed in many ways, not just "typical" African styles. His work used modern art ideas from Europe and America, which were not common in African countries at the time.

Anatsui showed his work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 2005. This was the first time his art was part of the permanent collection in a major art museum. Also in 2005, his show "Danudo" in New York was the first time his metal sheet artworks were shown in an American city. This exhibition helped make his bottle-cap works famous.

Anatsui's Palazzo Fortuny Artempo exhibition in 2007

Anatsui was invited to the Venice Biennale in 2006 and again in 2007. For the 2007 show, he created two large hanging metal artworks. He displayed them at the Palazzo Fortuny. These three artworks were called Dusasa. Each one had different textures and colors, like gold, red, and black. The way the bottle tops hung made them look soft and gentle. The art curator, Robert Storr, said that Anatsui's work was very uplifting. Anatsui wanted to create a new experience for viewers. He believes that "human life is not something which is cut and dried. It is something that is constantly in a state of change." Around this time, he started calling his metal artworks "hangings" instead of "cloths."

Another Man's Cloth (2006) at the Rubell Museum DC in 2022

In 2010, a big show of his work called When I Last Wrote to You About Africa opened at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. It then traveled to different places in the United States for three years.

A major exhibition of his newer works, called Gravity & Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, opened in New York at the Brooklyn Museum in 2013. This show also traveled to other museums.

A large show covering his whole career, called Triumphant Scale, opened in 2019 in Munich. It attracted huge crowds. From there, the show went to the Arab Museum of Modern Art and then to the Kunstmuseum Bern.

Anatsui was chosen for the 2023 Hyundai Commission at the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. This is a huge space for large artworks. His piece, "Behind the Red Moon," is made of thousands of metal bottle tops. It connects to the history of the transatlantic slave trade. This artwork will be on display until April 14, 2024.

Awards and Recognition

Anatsui has received many awards for his art:

• In 1968, he won an honorable mention at the First Ghana National Art Competition.
• In 1969, he was named Best Student of the Year at the College of Art in Kumasi.
• In 1983, he was asked to create two large public sculptures for the Nsukka campus.
• In 1984, he was one of ten artists invited to a special residency in Cuxhaven, West Germany.
• In 1990, he was invited to the 44th Venice Biennale show and received an honorable mention.
• In 2015, the Venice Biennale gave Anatsui the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, a very high honor.
• In 2017, Anatsui won the Praemium Imperiale, a major international art prize. He was the first Ghanaian to win it.
• In 2023, he was included in the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.

Other awards include:

• 1990 – Public Prize, 7th Annual Triennale der Kleinplastik
• 1995 – Kansai Telecasting Prize, 6th Osaka Sculpture Triennial
• 1998 – Bronze Prize, 9th Osaka Sculpture Triennial
• 2008 – Visionaries! Award, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
• 2009 – Prince Claus Award
• 2009 – Artist Honoree, 30th Anniversary Celebration, National Museum of African Art
• 2016 – Honorary doctorate, Harvard University
• 2017 – Honorary doctorate, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
• 2024 – Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Bard College

See also

In Spanish: El Anatsui para niños

• Big 4 (statue)