El Anatsui

El Anatsui 

When I Last Wrote to You about Africa 

Educator’s Guide 

Museum for African Art 

New York

El Anatsui 

When I Last Wrote To You About Africa 

Educator’s Guide 

By 

Erika Gee 

Director of Education and 

Public Programs 

Assisted by 

Lisa M. Binder 

Associate Curator 

Donna Ghelerter 

Manager of Curatorial Affairs 

Christine Weible 

Intern 

Education Department 

Museum for African Art, New York

El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa is organized by the Museum for 

African Art, New York, and has been supported, in part, by grants from Toyota as the 

lead corporate sponsor, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the 

National Endowment for the Arts. 

TOYOTA 

Warhol 

Foundation 

This Educator’s Guide, developed in conjunction with the exhibition El Anatsui: 

When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, is funded by Toyota Foundation and The May 

and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., and supported, in part, by public funds 

from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City 

Council. 

Copyright 2011 © Museum for African Art, New York. All rights reserved. No part 

of this publication may be reproduced except solely for educational purposes. All 

other uses require written permission from the Museum for African Art, 36-01 43rd 

Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101. www.africanart.org 

Cover: Untitled, 1980s. Acrylic on masonite, 24 x 48 in. Collection of the artist 

Frontispiece: Plot A Plan III (detail), 2007. Aluminum, copper wire, 73 x 97 in. Collection 

of Joan and Michael Saike, Naples, Florida. 

This educator’s guide is largely based on the catalogue El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote 

to You about Africa, edited by Lisa M. Binder.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

2 About this Guide 

3 About the Exhibition 

4 About the Artist 

9 Exploring Culture, Stories and Memory 

10 When I last wrote to you .. II, 1986 

12 God’s Omnipotence, 1974 

14 Chambers of Memory, 1977 

16 Omen, 1978 

18 Beads, 1980 

20 Leopard’s Paw-prints and Other Stories, 1991 

22 Akua’s Surviving Children, 1996 

24 Sacred Moon, 2007 

27 Exploring Materials and Processes 

28 Lady in Frenzy, 1999 

Chief in Zingliwu, 1999 

30 Peak Project, 1999 

32 Open(ing) Market, 2004 

34 Stressed World, 2011 

37 Resources 

38 Lesson 1: Research Activity: El Anatsui’s Life and Works of Art 

41 Map 

42 Lesson 2: Creating a Found-object Work of Art 

43 Artist’s Timeline 

46 Annotated Webography 

47 Vocabulary

ABOUT THIS GUIDE 

THIS EL ANATSUI EDUCATOR’S GUIDE is designed as a tool to assist educators 

in engaging students in the life and works of contemporary artist El Anatsui. 

Based on the exhibition When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, the guide 

explores the full range of the artist’s work, from wood trays referring to 

traditional symbols of the Akan people of Ghana; to early ceramics from the 

artist’s Broken Pots series, driftwood assemblages that refer to the trans- 

Atlantic slave trade, and wooden sculptures carved with a chainsaw; to the 

luminous metal wall-hangings of recent years, which have brought the artist 

international acclaim. 

This resource guide may be used by K-12 teachers in connection with class 

visits to the exhibition, or as an independent curricular resource. It provides 

an overview of El Anatsui’s life and highlights examples of his works of art. 

Educators can use individual works of art to explore El Anatsui’s process as 

an artist and the different materials that he employs. Teachers can also utilize 

Anatsui’s work as part of curriculum units that investigate contemporary 

art as well as African history, visual arts, folklore, symbols, and traditions. 

Each work of art has sample discussion questions to encourage students to 

closely examine the artwork, interpret possible meanings of the artworks, 

discover African traditions, and make personal connections. The guide also 

lists suggested activities, including doing further research, or creating works 

of art inspired by Anatsui’s examples. These suggested activities are designed 

to encourage interdisciplinary connections with other studies in history, 

social studies, literature, science, and performing arts. 

While not specifically designed for a particular grade level, the suggested 

questions might be best suited for upper elementary and middle school 

students. Teachers are invited to adapt these materials for use with their 

specific students. For example, teachers may want to select a few works of 

art to explore with younger students. This guide is not designed to provide a 

comprehensive history of West Africa or its artistic traditions as teachers can 

refer to other sources for more detailed information. 

2 EL ANATSUI EDUCATOR’S GUIDE

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 

El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa 

IN WOOD AND METAL SCULPTURES, ceramics, paintings, prints, and drawings 

created over the past five decades, El Anatsui (b. 1944, Ghana) tells his 

personal story alongside local and global narratives. Today an internationally 

renowned artist, he lives and works in Nigeria and continues to use the 

simplest materials to create monumental sculptures. El Anatsui: When I Last 

Wrote to You about Africa, the artist’s first retrospective, surveys his ongoing 

practice of juxtaposing color, form, and pattern to evoke major themes in 

African and world history. 

Anatsui, best known for his shimmering metal sculptures made from 

thousands of West African liquor bottle tops, has also worked in a variety of 

other mediums, some of them long-established and some less conventional. 

He has often used materials from his immediate surroundings in his 

sculptures—in the 1970s he worked with wood trays like the ones sold in 

the market stalls of Ghana, in the 1980s sculpting with clay pots and yam 

pounders, from the 1990s onward fashioning metal bottle tops and milk-tin 

lids—and, by doing so, infusing his art with symbols and myth. Many of his 

large compositions consist of multiple parts. Anatsui 

encourages diverse readings by rearranging sections of 

scorched wood slats or linked aluminum caps, seeing 

such movement as part of his nomadic aesthetic. 

Anatsui’s art, like his poetic titles, can be simultaneously 

diminutive and monumental, delicate and violent, 

whimsical and serious. There is no one single trajectory, 

no specific path to take through history. El Anatsui asks 

us to make connections between our knowledge and 

his message, our environments and his materials, and 

most of all, between our lives and his art. 

El Anatsui carving Erosion with a chainsaw 

at an Earth Summit workshop in Manaus, 

Brazil, 1992. The finished work was displayed 

in the exhibition Arte Amazonas at 

the Modern Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro. 

ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION 3

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

EL ANATSUI WAS BORN on February 4, 1944 in the Ewe town of Anyako and 

later went to high school in nearby Keta; both are located in Ghana’s Volta 

region. Anyako and Keta are surrounded on one side by the sea, on the 

other by a lagoon. Anatsui remembers people concerning themselves with 

fishing and harvesting salt most of the time and with weaving during the off 

season. Though the artist never practiced weaving, his father and brothers 

did so in their spare time. In addition, several of his brothers composed lyrics 

for music related to traditional drumming. He refers to these siblings as 

poets. This exposure to cloth patterns and poetry provided Anatsui’s earliest 

interaction with media that would later inspire much of his mature work. 

El Anatsui working in his studio at the 

University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on a piece 

from the Broken Pots series, 1977. 

Though he was the youngest of the thirty-two children in his family, Anatsui 

discovered ways to highlight his individuality within a large group. His 

interest in art quickly set him apart from other students and members of 

his family. He recalls his earliest experience with art as an attempt to write 

letters on a chalk slate: “I would copy the bold capital letters on the door of 

the general manager’s office or the headmaster’s office. Because I did not 

understand these, I regarded each of them more as an image than a letter. 

These forms were intriguing and attractive.” Even from this early age he 

was appropriating and connecting forms in order to discover new ways of 

communicating. Later, in high school, he would win awards for his artistic 

endeavors during the annual speech and prize-giving days. Advisors began 

to encourage him to study fine art in college. Knowing the path he wanted 

to take, he let those around him know that he would be leaving and not 

following in the footsteps of other members in his family. 

Education 

Anatsui earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and 

Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in 1968. At the time, the institution was affiliated 

with the University of London, specifically Goldsmiths, and employed 

mostly European lecturers; thus, after having grown up in a British colony, 

he received his university training under the British model, which continued 

in Ghana following its independence in 1957. He studied drawing, painting, 

and sculpture in the Western tradition and had art history classes that did 

not include discussions of African art. He followed his undergraduate degree 

with a postgraduate diploma in art education and secured his first teaching 

position upon graduation as a lecturer in the Art Education Department, 


Specialist Training College, Winneba, Ghana (now University of Education, 

Winneba). In 1975, Anatsui applied for an open lecturer position in the 

Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. 

The following year, El Anatsui made his first trip outside of Ghana to live on 

the campus where he would teach for the next thirty-five years. 

Teaching and Artistic Practice 

El Anatsui started teaching in the Department of Fine and Applied Art at 

the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1975. From the very beginning, his work 

was informed by various local, regional, and international histories and art 

practices. One can find Ghanaian and Nigerian influences in his work as well 

as myriad other African, European, Asian, and American 

references. He has gained this knowledge through an 

intimate investigation of his immediate environment 

coupled with decades of travel for research, residencies, 

workshops, and exhibitions. 

Anatsui has an edict that he, and those under his 

tutelage, turn to their respective environments for 

inspiration and materials. He urges them to look around 

and use “whatever the environment throws up.” In this, 

he is not only referring to organic materials—discarded 

bottle-tops, glass bottles, milk tin lids, market trays, old 

mortars used for grinding yams, and metal obituary 

plates may be used along with “natural resources” such as clay, driftwood, 

leaves, and logs. 

El Antsui making Ambivalent Hold,1983, 

Nsukka, Nigeria. 

Artistic media need not be expensive. Anatsui believes that an artist does 

not necessarily need to spend money on oil paints or chisels, but rather, he 

can free the creative process by turning to the humble everyday materials 

around us. However, this is not to say that simple materials render simple 

artworks. He has expressed the idea that when one has only humble 

materials to work with, the act of bringing them together in massive 

quantities creates the possibility for monumentality. 

For example, when making Signatures on the campus of the University of 

East Anglia during an artist-in-residency program, he piled up hundreds 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 5

of logs into a rectangular pile. Then, using common 

household paint, he added countless stripes of color to 

the end of each log. He hoped a viewer standing before 

the work would be “dizzied” by the massive movement 

of pattern and texture. He teaches his students, that 

when working with humble materials such as logs and 

paint, one should bring them together in a manner that 

renders them monumental. 

Signature in situ at the Cyfuniad Internationa 

Artists Workshop in Plas Caerdeon, 

Wales, 1999. Wood, paint, dimensions 

variable. Collection of the artist, now 

destroyed. 

Travel is a very important part of Anatsui’s teaching. He 

encourages his students to apply for travel grants, artistin-residency 

programs, and study abroad opportunities. 

He suggests that they should experience the best of 

what the world has to offer, and then consider those 

influences, along with local art histories, in their studio work. 

One of the most important elements in Anatsui’s practice is the element 

of chance. His work is often comprised of pieces that can be arranged in a 

variety of ways. He encourages the installer to participate in the work by 

suggesting placement or order of the final installation. For example, in his 

bottle top sculptures, he asks the curator to add vertical and horizontal 

gathered points as they see fit. This often opens up different ways of seeing 

and reading the same work of art—and in this—new meanings can emerge. 

This is a practice he strongly encourages his students to follow as well. 

Most importantly, rather than asking his students to copy or mimic an 

“Anatsui style” he teaches a way of seeing the world, a process of art making, 

and encourages individual artistic vision. He has taught generations of 

artists to consider process. In sum, these are the primary strategies Professor 

Anatsui has conveyed to his many students over the last four decades: 

• Pull from your personal history for inspiration 

• Look to your environment for materials and give them the opportunity 

to be more than just humble fragments 

• Travel when you can and bring all your experiences to bear on your work 

• Allow for the possibility of chance—something new and wonderful may 

come of it 


Exhibitions and Collections 

Starting in the 1980s and ’90s Anatsui was included in numerous local and 

international workshops, artists’ residencies, collectives, biennales, and 

exhibitions. Anatsui’s work has appeared in group exhibitions at the Fowler 

Museum of Cultural History, UCLA; the Smithsonian National Museum 

of African Art, Washington, DC; the October Gallery, London; and in the 

celebrated exhibition Africa Remix, which opened in 2005 in Düsseldorf and 

traveled to London, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, and Johannesburg. His work 

has also been included in numerous biennial exhibitions, including in Venice 

(1990 and 2007), Havana (1994), Johannesburg (1995), Gwangju (2004), and 

Sharjah (2009), as well as in Prospect.1 New Orleans (2008). Gawu, a solo 

show of metal sculptures, traveled throughout Europe, North America, and 

Asia from 2004 to 2008. 

In 2008, Anatsui received the Visionaries Artist Award from 

the Museum of Arts and Design, in New York City. He is 

also a laureate of the 2009 Prince Claus Award. His work 

is collected by institutions internationally, including the 

British Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The 

Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern 

Art, New York; the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; 

the Denver Art Museum; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of 

Art, Kansas City; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; and 

many others. 

El Anatsui constructing Gli, a metal wall 

sculpture commissioned for an exhibition 

at the Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, 

January 2010. In the past, Anatsui would 

deliver the metal hangings as complete 

works, but now he often brings large sections 

to venues and fuses them together 

on-site. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 7


EXPLORING CULTURE, STORIES, 

AND MEMORY 

EL ANATSUI uses double meanings, references to history, and 

language mixing as elements of his art practice. For example, the 

Broken Pots series ties to African traditions and beliefs regarding 

the earth. This section explores how Anatsui incorporates signs, 

symbols, and historical and cultural references in his works. 

Akpukpoefi, part of the Broken Pots series 

1979 

Ceramic, glass 

22.5 x 15.5 in. 

Collection of the artist 

Anatsui used molten glass in several Broken 

Pots series objects. This use of drink bottles 

prefigured the employment of liquor tops in 

his current metal sculptures. 

EXPLORING CULTURES, STORIES, AND MEMBORY 9

When I last wrote to you . . . II 

1986 

Drypoint, aquatint 

19 ½ x 15 ½ in. 



A letter explores the idea of language and communication. 

Anatsui made a suite of works in the late 1980s, all of which have the title 

When I last wrote you about Africa (or variations of it). In this print, Anatsui 

utilizes the aquatint etching process to create a soft image of a letter 

emerging out of what looks like a wash of grey. He fills the lines of his letter 

with symbols that are similar to adinkra ideograms, a system of linguistic 

symbols used in Ghana. Adinkra symbols appear on objects, jewelry, and 

brass weights and, are stamped on cloth using carved gourds. Adinkra 

symbols are ideograms, as each symbol visually represents a meaning or 

concept. These symbols are linked to proverbs, folktales, folksongs, and 

popular sayings as well with as flora, fauna, and everyday objects. One of the 

symbols, sankofa, represents a bird known for its ability to look backward 

and is associated with the concept of looking to the past in order to plan 

the future. Anatsui’s use of adinkra is an attempt to use tradition as a way 

of moving art forward. Another symbol, aya, depicts a fern and represents 

endurance, independence, hardiness, perseverance, and resourcefulness; 

it is connected with the phrase “I am not afraid of you.” Using combinations 

of symbols to create various meanings, Anatsui might suggest viewers to 

consider the idea of language and explore how communication happens. 

Looking and Interpreting 

• What textures and patterns do you see in this work of art? 

• How do people use letters to communicate? What role do symbols and 

language play in fostering communication? 

Connecting and Doing 

• What symbols have you seen in use in the United States, i.e. eagle, flags, 

etc.? What do they represent? 

• Create your own simple print using a Styrofoam plate. Cut the raised 

edges off so you have a flat printing surface. Then carve a design on 

the plate using a ballpoint pen, being careful not to puncture a hole in 

the plate. Cover the surface with paint (preferable printing paint using 

a roller). Place a sheet of paper over the painted surface pressing down 

to ensure the paint transfers to the paper. Remove the paper from the 

Styrofoam plate to reveal your image. 

EXPLORING CULTURES, STORIES, AND MEMORY 11

God’s Omnipotence 

1974 

Wood, paint, lacquer 

21 ½ x 20 ½ in. 

Institute of African Studies, 

University of Nigeria, Nsukka 


An ordinary tray is carved with new meaning. 

Anatsui decorated this wooden tray with a central symbol surrounded by 

radiating decoration. These wood sculptures are among Anatsui’s earliest 

works and are based on Ghanaian market trays. The artist commissioned 

local wood carvers to make the kind of market trays conventionally used 

to display fruits and vegetables, then he branded and scorched the wood 

with shapes and patterns using a low-tech method of heated rods or knives. 

The symbol that Anatsui uses is akin to the adinkra symbol nyame ye ohene, 

meaning “God is King,” symbolizing the majesty and supremacy of God. 

Using a local form and processes, he blurs the traditional perception of fine 

art and craft. 


• What do you notice about the tray? How do you think the designs are 

created? 


• Research adinkra symbols from West African cultures. Select a few 

symbols with meanings that you like or have significance for you. Carve 

your own symbol out of a potato or soap and use it to stamp different 

surfaces such as paper and fabric. 

• Can you imagine an everyday object in your own life for which you could 

invent a new purpose? Draw how you might use this object. 


How can we explore the role of memory in our lives through art? 

Chambers of Memory 

1977 

Ceramic, manganese 

16 x 10 in. 


With a speckled, brittle surface on a cylindrical base and a large, bulbous 

upper half, this work evokes an abstracted form of a human head. The front 

is defined by full, pursed lips and a narrowly slit nose and eyes, which may 

evoke a more literal history—the early art traditions of Africa. This sculpture 

can be seen as fashioned to resemble the ancient terra-cotta heads found 

around the village of Nok near the Jos Plateau region of Nigeria. Anatsui 

might ask viewers to reflect on their own, individual contributions to the 

history of humanity. 

The back of the skull is incomplete with chambers delineated by rough, 

jagged edges. The interior divisions in Chambers of Memory could allude to 


the abstract sites of memory and history archived in one’s mind. The holes 

and cracks in the skull of this piece, along with its title, Chambers of Memory, 

suggest that the artist is toying with ideas of the fragility and elusiveness of 

memories. How accurately can our minds sustain memories? Can we lose 

memories permanently? Is memory interpretive or factual? 

Earthenware is a principle material used in everyday life in many West 

African cultures from centuries ago to today. It is used for common as well as 

ceremonial activities. Anatsui has lived in Nigeria since the mid-1970s, and 

the cosmology of the Igbo, an ethnic group in Nigeria, has had an influence 

on his work and his aesthetic. For the Igbo, the earth is not only the source 

of all life and creation (many other genealogies trace the first humans to 

anthills), the earth is also the site and domain of Ala, the earth goddess— 

the divinity of creativity, communal balance, and moral righteousness. El 

Anatsui’s pots are formed by the artist’s hands, and consequently their form 

reveals the close relationship between the objects, their maker, and the 

earth. 


• What forms and shapes do you see in this work of art? 

• How many chambers do you see? What objects do you see in them? 


• The Nok area in Nigeria is one of the earliest African centers of 

ironworking and terracotta figure production. Research more about 

the Nok terracotta sculptures. How are these sculptures made? Do you 

see any similarities in how these faces are depicted and in Chambers of 

Memory? 

• What do you think the role of memory is in your life? Do you have any 

favorite memories? What are they? How might you keep yourself from 

forgetting these memories? 

• What ways do we remember important events or memories in our life? 

Create a work of art where you preserve your memories. This could take 

the form of an accordion book, timeline, quilt, or collage that depicts 

multiple events. 


How can exploring brokenness help one understand history? 

Omen 

1978 

Ceramic, manganese 

15.5 x 16.5 in. 


With an imperfectly rounded shape and ruptured opening, Omen is 

evocative of the moment where life begins anew and can be seen as a 

premonition for all of life’s possibilities. A coating of the mineral manganese 

creates the object’s speckled texture. Mined in Ghana, El Anatsui’s homeland, 

manganese is known to promote the biological process of healing wounds in 

living organisms. The egglike shape of Omen reoccurs in several of Anatsui’s 

drawings, paintings, and sculptures. 


In 1978 El Anatsui began to work with clay, a material that held a cultural 

significance for him. A Nigerian poet Osmond Ossie Enekwe (b. November 

12, 1942) wrote a series of poems also entitled Broken Pots (1977) that 

laments the consequences of wars—the human suffering, broken humanity, 

and the creating of a physical and spiritual wasteland. El Anatsui uses 

ceramic shards that he fabricated, broke, and repaired in his Broken Pots 

series. 

Omen, created with damaged ceramics, might represent the idea of 

brokenness and fragility in a time of political instability in West Africa. 

The re-forming of the pot-like shape might represent regeneration and 

rebirth, while the materials relate to myths and stories Anatsui heard as a 

child in Ghana. These pieces are partially repaired in order to suggest that 

brokenness does not necessarily result in disuse; rather, through repair, 

objects might serve a new function. 


• What do you notice about the surface of this work of art? What textures 

and patterns do you see? 

• An omen is defined as something perceived or happening believed to 

indicate a good or bad circumstance or event in the future. Look closely 

at this work. What “omen” might you read in this work? 


• Have you ever broken something, only to find a new use for it? What was 

it? 

• Are there stories that you have heard about rebirth and creation i.e. the 

phoenix rising out of the ashes? Create a work of art that illustrates the 

story. 

• Research more about manganese and its properties. For starters, 

manganese is a hard and brittle metal that is both nutritionally essential 

and potentially toxic. Its name comes from the Greek word for magic. 

Scientists are still working to understand its diverse effects in living 

organisms. Manganese plays an important role in the biological process 

of healing wounds. 


Beads 

1980 

Ink on paper 

10 ½ x 9 in. 



A simple drawing of a decorative product. 

Anatsui depicts a string of patterned beads in this black and white drawing. 

In many cultures beads are used as ornaments, currency, talismans, counting 

devices, religious objects, and as symbols of power, wealth, and affiliation. 

From 1979 to 1981, Anatsui made a series of elegant drawings that relate 

to works he created in other mediums. This drawing specifically depicts a 

type of bead made in Ghana out of recycled glass. These beads are made by 

selecting colored glass that is then pored into molds, fired in kilns, polished, 

and painted. They are also significant as trade items used as part of an 

international exchange in markets in Ghana and other areas of West Africa 

that exported these goods around the world. 


• What patterns and shapes do you see on these beads? What colors do 

you imagine on these beads? 


• Research the history of trade in West Africa. What items were being 

produced and traded? Why might beads have been significant as trade 

items? 

• Generate a list of materials that could be used as beads or made into 

beads. Create your own beads out of paper (rolling colored paper), 

papier mâché, bread dough, beans, noodles, or spices. Consider utilizing 

found natural materials such as seedpods, feathers, and small pines 

cones, as well as discarded bottle caps, hardware, and toys to make 

beads as well. 


Leopard’s Paw-prints and Other Stories 

1991 

Wood, paint 

16 x 35 ¼ in. 

Collection of the artist and October 

Gallery, London 


This work depicts a new visual language drawn from symbols and 

literature. 

In Leopard’s Paw-prints and Other Stories, El Anatsui carves a number of 

textures and patterns on the slats of wood assembled together. While the 

symbols and patterns might not be discernible, viewers might liken them 

to systems of communication based on adinkra symbols and kente cloth. 

The act of naming a sculpture is an important part of Anatsui’s process. 

Although he may think of a title at any point during the production of a 

work, usually no final decision is made until he has spent time with a finished 

piece and the idea for it begins to emerge. His titles often relate to language, 

mythology, literature, or poetry, as well as major events in African history. 

This naming practice recalls the way in which weavers, brass casters, and 

carvers in Ghana name designs and compositions to reflect events, stories, or 

proverbs. Leopard’s Paw-prints and Other Stories may relate to how leopards 

are associated with kingship in West African folklore. 


• Imagine taking a rubbing of this surface. What textures would you 

notice? 


• Research kingship in West African cultures. For example, in Igbo culture, 

one of the ethnic groups in Nigeria, a head, paw, or tooth of a lion or 

leopard is a symbol or power. Other Igbo associations with royalty 

include turtle shells, python skin, eagle feathers, crocodile skin, ostrich 

eggs and feathers, and elephant tusks. These symbols are displayed on 

fabrics or any piece of clothing and in wood such as mahogany, iroko, 

obeche, ebony, all from trees that are usually huge and strong-textured. 

Why do you think the leopard and its attributes might symbolize 

kingship? Why do you think leaders associate themselves with symbols 

of power? What symbols of power do you see today’s world leaders 

display? 

• What stories do you know that incorporate animals? Can you imagine 

a story about a leopard based on what you see in El Anatsui’s piece? Act 

out your story. 


How can found objects be transformed to tell a story of Africa? 

Akua’s Surviving Children 

1996 

Wood, metal 

Installation dimension variable. Height of 

the tallest individual piece 65 in. 



Made of driftwood logs that had washed ashore on a beach in Denmark, 

Akua’s Surviving Children represents individual Africans who crossed 

tumultuous oceans and seas during the Danish slave trade. This sculptural 

installation was exhibited as part of the 1996 Images of Africa Festival in 

Copenhagen, Denmark. The wooden heads and bodies were attached using 

nails from a forge where, in the past, guns had been made for use in the slave 

trade. Anatsui also burned each figure’s head in the forge as a symbolic act of 

cleansing. 


In Ghana, El Anatsui’s home country, Akan children are given a “day name,” 

which is based on the name of the day of the week on which he or she was 

born. Akua is the name for females born on Wednesday. It is believed that 

all peoples born on the same day of the week have the same kind of soul. 

The Akan, one of the West African ethnic groups, also believe ancestors give 

children to the living to continue their family and their society. Ancestors are 

still involved in the life of the living, and the well being of the living depends 

on them. In light of this, an interpretation of this piece might be that Akua— 

depicted in this piece—is a revered ancestor, whose children continue to 

depend on her for the good of their family and are the continuation of her 

legacy today. 


• Describe the grouping of forms, including the spacing and variety of 

heights. Arrange your own version of this piece, using either objects or 

people to fill the space. 

• Anatsui encourages people to install his sculptures as they see fit. This 

open process suggests the innumerable combinations of interactions 

possible within a group of people, and demonstrates the fluidity of 

human relationships. If you were to install this piece, how might you 

arrange these sculptures? 


• Research the African slave trade. What places are connected to this 

history? What are the experiences of the people involved and affected? 

• Research stories from other cultures where ancestors influence or help 

the living. What is the relationship between the living and those that 

came before them? 

• Reflect on the members of your family. Do you have family members 

who are important to you? Why are they important? What have they 

taught you or passed on to you that you find valuable? What would you 

like to pass on to your children someday? 


A shimmering piece could provide a backdrop for sharing stories. 

Sacred Moon 

2007 

Aluminum, copper wire 

103 x 141 in. 

Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan, 

608 

Sacred Moon is a shimmering, shining, tapestry-like piece that ripples and 

gives the illusion of movement. One might see the work as a night sky for 

a fiery orange harvest moon against the silvery backdrop. On the left side, 

there is a tree-like shape anchored by a patch of color, which could be 

interpreted as earth. The ripples evoke a feeling of a breeze or life pulsing 

through. 

In many cultures, storytelling serves a means of entertainment, education, 

and cultural preservation. One of the most popular times for storytelling 


is after the sun has set and the day’s work has been 

finished. Among the Limba, an ethnic group from Sierra 

Leone, a full moon is seen as the optimum opportunity 

for storytelling, because people go to bed later during 

this time. By creating a moon, El Anatsui might provide 

viewers with a new kind of social space within which 

viewers may be inspired to share stories with one another. 


• On first glance, what do you think this piece is made 

of? Look at this work more closely. What materials do 

you see? 

• How is this work constructed? How long do you think it might have 

taken to put this together? Note: Anatsui has employed a delegation of 

labor throughout his career; he currently has more than twenty assistants 

who help make his metal wall sculptures. 


• Upon seeing Anatsui’s hangings, many people associate them with 

kente cloth. Kente cloth is special fabric that was developed in Ghana. 

Kings, queens, and other important people wore special designs during 

ceremonies and other state occasions. The kente patterns contain many 

cultural concepts from history, literature, and political thought, codes of 

conduct, moral values, and philosophy. Research kente cloth and create a 

piece using a pattern that conveys a message. 

• Think about story time in your school or family. Where and when are 

these stories told? Are there particular times, places, seasons, or events 

where storytelling has been a part of your social interactions, i.e. summer 

camp? What kinds of stories have you told or heard? 

• El Anatsui’s father and brothers practiced weaving in their spare time. 

Several of his brothers composed lyrics for music related to traditional 

drumming. What skills have you seen your family members do, i.e. cook, 

sew, etc.? Are there skills or traditions that you have learned from your 

family members? Are there skills that you hope to learn from your family 

members? 



EXPLORING MATERIALS AND PROCESSES 

Many of El Anatsui’s sculptures employ materials once 

designated for other purposes. Using found objects such as 

market trays, old mortars, fallen logs, can lids, and cassava 

graters, he reworks and rearranges materials and transforms 

them into something new. The vocabulary of Anatsui’s work 

involves exchanges between seemingly humble materials, that 

are constructed into monumental works. 

Signature (detail) in situ at the Cyfuniad 

International Artists Workshop in Plas 

Caerdeon, Wales, 1999. Wood, paint, 

dimensions variable. Collection of the 

artist, now destroyed. 

In Nigeria, cut wood that is for sale will 

often be marked with a stroke of paint 

to denote the logs’ owner. Anatsui is 

making reference to this proctice and the 

individual “signatures” left behind. 

EXPLORING MATERIALS AND PROCESSES 27

Lady in Frenzy 

1999 

Metal, wood, fabric 

74 x 26 in. 



Chief in Zingliwu 

1999 

Metal, wood, fabric 

66 ½ x 29 ½ in. 




These whimsical sculpture are made from a variety of materials. 

In 1999 Anatsui began to use found objects more frequently than he had 

in the past. Metal and wood, two of his predominant mediums throughout 

his career, are combined with fabric here to create each figure of this 

freestanding couple, Lady in Frenzy and Chief in Zingliwu. 


• Look carefully at the artwork. What materials were used to make these 

sculptures? 


• Anatsui often creates his own words, or uses words in other languages, 

to title his artworks. For example, zingliwu is an Ewe word that references 

the zinc roof-top materials used in the body of the sculpture Chief 

in Zingliwu. Have you ever created your own words, or used another 

language to express something? Come up with some new words for a 

concept, story, or work of art. 

• Create an artwork made out of a number of materials, like metal, wood, 

and fabric. 


Peak Project 

1999 

Tin, copper wire 

Installation dimensions variable, each 

sheet approximately 24 x 48 in. 



How can an artwork explore issues of consumption and waste? 

This sculpture is made from the shiny lids of Peak Milk cans linked together 

by wire into 2-foot-by-4-foot sheets. The number of sheets can vary (usually 

from 20 to more than 150), depending on the available exhibition space. 

Although Anatsui encourages each installer to arrange the sheets as he or 

she likes, he prefers that the pieces be shaped into peaks as a play on the 

milk’s brand name. Produced by a Dutch company in Holland, Peak milk 

powder and cans of condensed milk are widely used in Nigeria because 

some people cannot keep milk cold in areas where electricity is often limited 

and intermittent. 

In the National Museum of African Art’s website for the Gawu exhibition, 

Anatsui explains that this work and others in the series were inspired by 

“huge piles of detritus from consumption,” such as the mountains of milk 

tins and bottle tops that have been growing throughout West Africa due to 

limited recycling technology. A lot of things which are made in Europe and 

America and are sent over arrive in certain kinds of packaging, for example, 

fresh milk comes in tins. We have our own milk too, of course, but in addition 

there are huge imports of milk from outside, which is accessed by way of 

tins.” 


• Notice the details of this sculpture. What is this sculpture made out of? 

How is this arranged? 

• Why might you work with discarded materials? 


• Research how products are imported in the United States. What are 

the costs to import products? What conveniences and advantages 

might an imported product offer when compared with a local product? 

Conversely, what conveniences and advantages might a local product 

offer when compared with an imported product? 

• Collect and repurpose lids from cans or caps from bottles to create a 

found object sculpture. In creating your artwork, do you prefer that the 

labels show? Why or why not? 


Open(ing) Market 

2004 

Tin, paper, wood, paint 

Installation dimensions variable, 

1,767 pieces 



A colorful sculpture evokes the stalls of a marketplace. 

The thousands of tin boxes in this sculpture refer to the vibrant, exciting, 

and often vast African marketplace. Capturing the moment of anticipation 

of stalls just about to open for business, Open(ing) Market represents the 

emergence of local and global African markets. Anatsui commissioned the 

handmade boxes from local tinkers. Each box is painted on the exterior in 

black with red, chevron-shaped marks, and has typical product labels from 

West Africa cut and glued to the inside. The colors, patterns, and spatial 

relationships of the sculpture are closely related to Anatsui’s work in other 

mediums. 


• Notice the details of this sculpture. What materials is this sculpture made 

out of? 


• Research marketplaces both in Africa and the United States. How might 

this piece remind you of stalls in marketplaces that you have seen? 

• Repurpose old boxes to create a found object sculpture. Add colored 

paint, fabric, or papers such as magazines or wrappers to decorate your 

sculpture. 


A luminous sculpture fashioned of a web of folded and crushed 

materials. 

The eroded patterns and distressed sections of Stressed World demonstrate 

Anatsui’s most recent production techniques and thematic concerns. While 

certain sections are densely populated, web-like areas appear to be worn 

thin by time and use. Sharply folded and crushed liquor bottle tops, in 

various configurations, firmly hold together the seemingly fragile material. 

Stressed World 

2011 

Aluminum, copper wire 

186 x 258 in. 


“When I first found the bag of bottle tops, I thought of the objects as 

links between Africa and Europe. European traders introduced the bottle 

tops, and alcohol was one of the commodities they brought with them 

to exchange for African goods. Eventually alcohol was used in the trans- 

Atlantic slave trade. Europeans made rum in the West Indies, took it to 


Liverpool, and then sent it back to Africa. For me, the 

bottle caps have a strong reference to the history of 

Africa.” – El Anatsui 

In 2002, Anatsui was walking in the area surrounding 

the university and stumbled across a stash of tops from 

schnapps, whiskey, wine, rum, gin, brandy, and vodka 

bottles produced in West Africa. He took the tops back to 

his studio and began to affix them together much as he 

had done with the milk lids. The result was astounding. 

The gold, red, black, and blue colors and images blurred 

into each other forming a tapestrylike metal wall 

sculpture. Though many have compared his works to 

West African cloth, when he found the tops, one of the artist’s first thoughts 

was of the history of migration and consumption. In this recent piece, 

Anatsui continues to use these materials in new and surprising ways. 


• Notice the different areas of the sculpture. What makes them different? 

How are each of the areas created? 

• Look carefully of at the materials used in this sculpture. What brands can 

you make out? 


• Research the history of the brands of the bottle tops that Anatsui uses. 

Some of the companies have European origins with factories in Africa 

which produce their products for West African consumption. 

• People in West Africa give these brands of liquors used in the sculptures 

as gifts to hosts or for special occasions. Are there gifts that you give to 

people when you visit or to celebrate special occasions? What are the 

reasons why you might give a specific item? 



RESOURCES 

Old Cloth Series (detail) 

1993 

Wood, paint 

31.5 x 60.25 in. 

Collection of Neil Coventry 

RESOURCES 37

LESSON PLANS 

LESSON 1 

Research Activity: El Anatsui’s Life and Works of Art 

Objectives 

Using information gathered on websites, students will 

research the life of contemporary artist El Anatsui and 

examples of his work in a variety of materials. 

Grades 

4-12 

Materials 

Computers with Internet access, worksheets 

Procedure 

Many websites and image galleries feature El Anatsui’s 

work. In this lesson, students will use these sites 

to research El Anatsui’s life and select examples of 

works of art in the variety of materials that he uses. 

The worksheet included can provide a guide for this 

research. Note: Teachers can assign any number of 

questions to the students depending on the time. If 

computers are not available in the classroom, this can 

be done as a homework assignment. 

1. Researching El Anatsui’s Life 

a. Where was El Anatsui born? Where did he go to 

school and get his training? 

• El Anatsui was born in Ghana in 1944. He 

earned a bachelor’s degree in sculpture and 

a postgraduate diploma in art education 

from the University of Science and 

Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 

b. Where does El Anatsui teach and work? 

• From 1975 to 2010, he was professor of 

sculpture at the University of Nigeria, 

Nsukka, where he taught since 1975. 

c. Where was his work exhibited? 

• Anatsui’s work has appeared in group 

exhibitions at the Fowler Museum of 

Cultural History, UCLA; the Smithsonian 

National Museum of African Art, 

Washington, DC; the October Gallery, 

London; and in the celebrated exhibition 

Africa Remix, which opened in 2005 in 

Düsseldorf and traveled to London, Paris, 

Tokyo, Stockholm, and Johannesburg. 

His work has also been included in 

numerous biennial exhibitions, including 

in Venice (1990 and 2007), Havana (1994), 

Johannesburg (1995), Gwangju (2004), and 

Sharjah (2009), as well as in Prospect.1 New 

Orleans (2008). Gawu, a solo show of metal 

sculptures, traveled throughout Europe, 

North America, and Asia from 2004 to 2008. 

d. What awards has he won? 

• In 2008, Anatsui received the Visionaries 

Artist Award from the Museum of Arts 

and Design, in New York City. He is also a 

laureate of the 2009 Prince Claus Award. 


e. Which institutions and individuals collect his 

work? 

• His work is collected by institutions 

internationally, including the British 

Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The 

Museum of Modern Art, New York; the 

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; the 

Denver Art Museum, Denver; the Nelson- 

Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; and the 

de Young Museum, San Francisco and many 

others. 

2. Researching El Anatsui’s works of art and 

materials: Examples of works of art included in this 

packet are in italics. Note: Many websites feature 

examples of El Anatsui’s work created in materials 

and processes other than those included in this 

packet. 

a. Find a work by El Anatsui made out of ceramic. 

Share which artwork you chose and describe 

what you see. 

• Omen, Ceramic, manganese, 1977 

• Chambers of Memory, Ceramic, manganese, 

1977 

b. Find a work that El Anatsui created out of wood. 


what you see. 

• Akua’s Surviving Children, Wood, metal, 1996 

• God’s Omnipotence, Wood, paint, lacquer, 

1974 

• Lady in Frenzy, Metal, wood, fabric, 1999 

• Leopard’s Paw-prints and Other Stories, 

Wood, paint, 1991 

c. Find a work that El Anatsui made out of 

recycled materials. Share which artwork you 

chose and describe what you see. 

• Opening Market, Tin, paper, wood, paint, 

2004 

• Peak Project, Tin, copper wire, 1999 

d. Find a work that El Anatsui made out of metal. 


what you see. 

• Sacred Moon, Aluminum, copper wire, 2007 

• Stressed World, Aluminum, copper wire, 

2011 

e. Find a work by El Anatsui that reminds you 

of fabric. Share which artwork you chose and 

describe what you see. 

• Peak Project, Tin, copper wire, 1999 

• Sacred Moon, Aluminum, copper wire, 2007 

• Stressed World, Aluminum, copper wire, 

2011 

LESSON PLANS 39

WORKSHEET 

Exploring El Anatsui’s Life: 

1. Where was El Anatsui born? Where did he go to 

school and get his training? 

2. Where does El Anatsui teach and work? 

3. Where was his work exhibited? 

4. What awards has he won? 

5. Which institutions and individuals collect his work? 

Exploring the El Anatsui’s works of art and materials 

1. Find a work by El Anatsui made out of ceramic. 

Share which artwork you chose and describe what 

you see. 

Possible Website Resources 

El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa, 

Museum for African Art’s Exhibition at the Royal 

Ontario Museum 

http://www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/special/ 

elanatsui/index.php 

New York Times, “A Thousand Bottles…” by Alexi Worth 

www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/02/22/style/t/ 

index.html#pageName=22nigeria 

“El Anatsui, a Sculptor Who Starts From Scrap” 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ 

story/2008/03/20/ST2008032003103.html 

El Anatsui Bio 

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/anatsui.htm 

Some Artworks with audio from El Anatsui 

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/artworks.html 

2. Find a work that El Anatsui created out of wood. 


you see. 

3. Find a work that El Anatsui made out of recycled 

materials. Share which artwork you chose and 

describe what you see. 

4. Find a work that El Anatsui made out of metal. 


you see. 

5. Find a work by El Anatsui that reminds you of fabric. 


you see. 


LESSON PLANS 41

LESSON 2: 

Creating a Found-object Work of Art 

Objective 

Students will create their own found-object work of art 

based on one of their memories. 

Grades 

1-12 

Materials 

Found objects (magazines, string, bottle caps, boxes, 

etc.); paper; pencils and markers; and glue, glue sticks, 

pipe cleaners, wire, and other fasteners. 

Procedure 

Homework: Have students collect and bring objects 

from home, i.e. magazines, wrappers, bottle caps. 

Start a discussion asking students to list the objects 

that they see in their daily lives. What are the materials 

these objects are made out of? Where do they 

encounter them? Introduce at least one example of 

a work of art by El Anatsui. Discuss the materials that 

he uses. Then ask students to recall and identify five 

memories or events that are significant to them. Ask 

students to choose one of those memories or events 

as an inspiration for creating an artwork using found 

objects. Students should be encouraged select objects 

or images that have significance for them and to use 

a variety of materials to create either a two or threedimensional 

work of art. 


ARTIST’S TIMELINE 

DATE El ANATSUI’S LIFE WORLD EVENT 

1944 Born in Anyako, in the Volta Region of Ghana. June 6 – Allied Forces, including British, American, 

Canadian and Free French airborne troops, invade 

Normandy to combat German forces on what was called 

D-Day, a turning point leading to the end of World War II. 

1965–68 Attends College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University Science 

and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 

1965 Produces heraldic sculptures, including coats of arms for 

Ghana, Uganda, Tunisia, and Zambia, in preparation for 

a meeting of the heads of state for the Organization of 

African Unity (O.A.U.) conference in Accra, Ghana. 

1967 – The Nigerian-Biafran War, also known as of 

the Nigerian Civil War, begins on May 30 as a result of 

economic, ethnic, cultural, and religious tensions existing 

between the nearly 300 different ethnic and cultural 

groups which inhabit the Nigeria. 

Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s leader at the time, was made 

Secretary-General of the O.A.U. in October 1965, and 

presided over the summit. 

1969 Receives postgraduate diploma in Art Education from 

University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 

1969–75 Lecturer, Art Education Department, Specialist Training 

College, Winneba, Ghana (now University of Education, 

Winneba) 

1970 – Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, declares itself an 

independent and racially segregated republic on March 1. 

1970s 

Begins to incorporate adinkra, a Ghanaian symbolic 

language of ideograms, into his art practice. One of the 

symbols, sankofa, represents a bird known for its ability 

to look backward and is associated with the concept of 

looking to the past in order to plan the future. Anatsui’s use 

of adinkra is an attempt to use tradition as a way of moving 

art forward. 

1972–75 Exhibits with a group of artists who hold annual shows 

in Ghana (both at Winneba and Accra) under the name 

Tekarts. Members include Desmond Fiadjoe, Philip 

Amonoo, Edith Agbenaza, Richard Ekem, Hope Gamor, and 

David Akotia. 

1972 – Eleven Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in 

Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist 

group invade the Olympic Village. 

1975 – Pol Pot (May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998) and the 

Khmer Rouge, a communist party, take over Cambodia in 

April. They rule for four years, during which approximately 

2 million Cambodians die due to political executions, 

starvation, and forced labor. 

1975–82 Lecturer, Fine and Applied Arts Department, University of 

Nigeria, Nsukka 

1976 First major solo exhibition, Wooden Wall Plaques by El 

Anatsui, held in Nsukka, Nigeria. The plaques are produced 

by the same carvers that make trays for market wares. 

Anatsui marked the trays with adinkra symbols and hung 

them on a wall. This is the first time Anatsui sculpts with 

materials originally intended for another use. 

1977–79 Begins to work on his Broken Pots series in 1977—a group 

of ceramics based on the idea that fragments of a sculpture, 

or pieces of history, are equally powerful as a complete 

work. Exhibits the suite in 1979 at the British Council, Enugu 

and at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, 

Nsukka. 

TIMELINE 43


1980s 

Makes a number of paintings during this period using 

colors and patterns that later appear in some of his carved 

wood sculptures and his sculptures using metal bottle 

tops. 

1982–96 Senior lecturer, Fine and Applied Arts Department, 

University of Nigeria, Nsukka 

1983 Joins an art collective called SKEP, coined from the initials 

of members S.P.K. Awa, S.E. Anku and E.K. Anatsui. Out 

of a series of proposals submitted, Anatsui’s designs, 

Ambivalent Hold and For the Upliftment of Man were 

selected by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to be realized 

on the grounds of the new Physical Sciences building. The 

sculptures were fabricated jointly by the group. 

1985–87 Visiting artist at the Cornwall College of Further and Higher 

Education in Redruth, England. In 1987, a solo exhibition, 

Venovize: Ceramic Sculpture by El Anatsui, is held at the 

college. 

1986 Founding member, AKA Circle of Exhibiting Artists in its 

first year, 1986, and participates in their exhibitions for 

more than a decade. Each exhibition starts in Enugu and 

continues on to Lagos. Other founding members include 

Obiora Udechukwu, Tayo Adenaike, Chris Afuba, Chike 

Aniakor, Obiora Anidi, Ifediorama Dike, Chike Ebebe, Chris 

Echeta, Nsikak Essien, Bona Ezeudu, Boniface Okafor, and 

Samson Uchendu. 

1986 – Desmond Tutu (b. October 7 1931), a Christian cleric 

and South African activist known for his opposition to 

Apartheid, becomes the first black elected as an Anglican 

Archbishop in South Africa on April 14. 

1986 – Wole Soyinka (b. July 13, 1934) is the first African to 

be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for 

his political activism and his criticism of Nigerian military 

dictators. Soyinka published poetry that he had written on 

toilet paper while imprisoned in Nigeria for conspiracy. His 

works include poetry, plays, memoirs, essays, and novels 

laced with Yoruba legends and political protest. 

Mid-1980s to 

present 

Makes wall sculptures from wooden slats that hang 

vertically side by side. Continues to use this format 

throughout his career. 

1986 Creates a wood sculpture and several prints titled When I 

last wrote to you about Africa . . . (or a variation of that title), 

using adinkra symbols. This wood sculpture is rare for 

Anatsui in that it consists of horizontal, rather than vertical, 

wood slats. 

1990 Participates in the exhibition Five Contemporary African 

Artists at the 44th Venice Biennale. 

1990 Begins to make wood sculptures using a chainsaw during 

an artist-in-residence program at the Cummington 

Community of Arts in Massachusetts. 

1992 Produces the wood sculpture Erosion at an Earth 

Summit workshop in Manaus, Brazil. The works made by 

participants are displayed in the exhibition Arte Amazonas 

at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro. 

1989 – Tens of thousands of Chinese students take over 

Tiananmen Square in Beijing demanding democracy, 

beginning on April 19. Thousands of students are ordered 

killed by the military and police in Tiananmen Square by 

the communist Chinese government. 

1990 – On February 11, the South Africa government 

frees Nelson Mandela (b. July 18, 1918), after 27½ years of 

imprisonment. 

1991 – Apartheid laws in South Africa are repealed by the 

country’s parliament on June 5. 

1992 – The Cold War ends on February 1 as the result of a 

formal proclamation by President George H. W. Bush (b. 

June 12, 1924) of the United States and President Boris 

Yeltsin (February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007) of Russia. 



1996 Creates the wood sculpture Akua’s Surviving Children from 

driftwood found on the beach while he is a visiting artist at 

International People’s College, Helsingør, Denmark. 

1995 – The Nigerian government hangs writer Ken Saro- 

Wiwa (October 10, 1941 – November 10, 1995) and eight 

other minority rights advocates on November 10. Saro- 

Wiwa was the leader of a nonviolent campaign against 

environmental degradation of land and water in his 

homeland of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. 

1998–2000 Head of Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of 

Nigeria, Nsukka 

1999 Creates the wood sculpture Signature at the Cyfuniad 

International Artists Workshop, Plas Caerdon, Wales. 

In Nigeria, wood planks and logs cut for sale are often 

marked with a stroke of paint to denote the log’s owner. In 

Signature, Anatsui makes reference to this practice and the 

individual “signature” left behind. 

2001 Creates the ceramic-and-glass sculpture Digital River for 

the Biennale de Ceramica dell’ Arte Contemporanea, Villa 

Groppallo, Vado Ligure, Italy. 

2001 – Twin Towers in New York City collapse after attack 

by Muslim extremists on September 11. Attacks are also 

directed at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and a plane 

which crashes in Pennsylvania. Three thousand people lose 

their lives. As a response military campaigns in Afghanistan 

are launched on October 7. 

2002 Begins to make sculpture from the metal tops of local 

liquor bottles, which he finds while walking in the area 

surrounding the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Liquor 

brand names include Black Gold, Chelsea, Dark Sailor, 

Ecomog, King Edward, Mac Lord, 007, and Top Squad, 

among others. 

2004 Creates the wood sculpture Aziza Gate during a residency 

at the Eden Project, Cornwall, U.K. 

2005 Participates in Africa 05 celebration in London and in the 

touring exhibition Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a 

Continent. 

2007 Participates in the 52nd Venice Biennale, where his bottlecap 

sculptures Dusasa I and Dusasa II are installed as focal 

points in the international exhibition in the Arsenale; a 

third bottle-cap sculpture, Fresh and Fading Memories, 

is draped over the entrance of the Palazzo Fortuny, 

commissioned for the exhibition there, Artempo: Where 

Time Becomes Art. 

2003 - US Military campaign begins in Iraq due to 

suspicions of Iraqi possession of weapons of mass 

destruction and accusations of Iraq President Saddam 

Hussein’s (April 28, 1937 – December 30, 2006) harboring 

of members of al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist terrorist 

organization. 

2005 - Chimanga Ngozi Adichie (b. September 15, 1977) 

receives the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First 

Book for her novel, Purple Hibiscus. The book is set in postcolonial 

Nigeria and follows the life of Kambili Achike, a 

young woman growing up in a disintegrating family set 

against the backdrop of Nigeria’s political instability and 

violence. 

2006 – Sudanese government and the largest rebel group 

in the Darfur region of the country sign a peace accord, 

ending three years of conflict related to ethnic conflict, 

which resulted in the death of 200,000 people and the 

displacement of two million people. The accord resulted 

from intense talks in Nigeria calling for the disbandment of 

rebel forces and pro-government militia. 

TIMELINE 45

ANNOTATED WEBOGRAPHY 

El Anatsui Installation Video 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7UBvknG8c4 

In this video, El Anatsui discusses the methods, history, and 

philosophy of his work. The video can promote a discussion 

about materials and the relationship between art, ideas, and 

everyday life. The video documents the process of installing 

one of his tapestries with curatorial commentary. 

Danudo: Recent Sculptures of El Anatsui. Skoto 

Gallery (in collaboration with Contemporary African 

Art Gallery, New York) 

http://www.skotogallery.com/viewer/press.release. 

danudo.asd 

This site features a personal statement by Anatsui about 

his work with liquor bottle tops. He explains his philosophy 

and approach to working with these materials, and shares 

the differences between his previous art and recent 

developments in his work. 

El Anatsui Microsite: October Gallery, London 

http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/microsites/anatsui/ 

This website offers a detailed look at El Anatsui’s life, career, 

and artistic process. It provides a general overview of his 

work and can be utilized for extensive research. The site 

features images, biography, lists of shows that have featured 

El Anatsui’s work, collections that include his work, and an 

extensive bibliography and filmography. 

The October Gallery offers a book in pdf format for download 

that contains curatorial notes on Anatsui’s work and 

exhibitions, interviews with the artist, essays, photographs of 

his works, and a timeline : http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/ 

artists/anatsui/el_anatsui_asi.pdf. 

A PDF catalogue of the Gawu exhibition can also be 

downloaded http://octobergallery.co.uk/pdfs/gawu_el_ 

anatsui_october_gallery.pdf that includes photographs of 

El Anatsui’s works and biography with the artist’s education, 

teaching history, and exhibition history, and an extensive 

bibliography. 

Duvor. An Indianapolis Museum of Art Installation 

http://www.artbabble.org/video/ima/el-anatsuisduvor-new-ima-installation 

The Indianapolis Museum of Art has created several short 

videos about El Anatsui’s works of art. 

Metropolitan Museum of Art Audio Podcast – 

Interview between El Anatsui and curator Alisa 

LaGamma 

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/african_textiles/ 

more.asp 

This website features a curatorial essay, brief history of 

African textile traditions, and transcribed interview between 

the artist and Alisa LaGamma, curator of African Art at 

the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anatsui discusses his 

education, his reasons for choosing to work with bottle tops, 

and the way that he intends to reach viewers. The curatorial 

essay helps relate his work to West African history. 

Rice University Art Gallery 

http://www.ricegallery.org/new/exhibition/ 

newinstallation.html 

This website focuses on El Anatsui’s installation at Rice 

Gallery and includes photos and a video of the installation as 

well as links to a radio piece and articles. 

Zebra Crossing, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, 

NY 

http://www.jackshainman.com/exhibition56.html 

This website offers a curatorial essay detailing Anatsui’s 

approach to what constitutes refuse, as well as the purpose 

and creative challenges related to recycling objects and 

materials. The site also contains a brief biography, Anatsui’s 

education and exhibition history, and includes four 

photographs of the gallery installation. 


VOCABULARY 

Abstract 

Nonrepresentational, focused on formal relationships. 

Adinkra 

Visual symbols used in Ghana and West Africa that 

represent concepts and ideas. May be used on fabric, 

pottery, woodcarvings, and other locations. 

Composition 

The arrangement of elements in a work that form its 

whole. 

Consumerism 

Social and economic order based on the creation of a 

desire to purchase goods and services in ever-greater 

amounts. 

Monumental 

Massive, imposing; being larger than life. 

Sculptural 

Three dimensional, consisting of sculpture-like qualities. 

Textile 

Flexible material consisting of a network of natural or 

artificial fibers. 

Transience 

Impermanent; lasting only a short time. 

Ewe 

An ethnic group from the southeast corner of Ghana, 

east of the Volta River, in an area now described as the 

Volta Region, extending to southern Togo and western 

Benin. They speak the Ewe language. 

Found-object 

An object used in artworks, which was originally 

created for another purpose. 

Globalization 

The integration of regional economies, societies, and 

cultures through a global network of political ideas. 

Kente Cloth 

Sacred strip-woven cloth worn by Ewe and Akan people 

from Ghana on important occasions. Characterized by 

bright, multicolored patterns, geometric shapes, and 

bold designs. 

VOCABULARY 47

NEW YORK 

www.africanart.org

El Anatsui

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