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El Anatsui​

El Anatsui (born c. 1944, Volta Region, Gold Coast [Now Ghana]) is an internationally revered and multi-award winning Ghanaian artist. He is known for his large-scale sculptures which are composed of thousands of folded and crumpled pieces of metal such as, cassava graters and liquor bottle tops, transforming simple materials into complex assemblages that create a distinctive visual impact; this visual impact often confronts the legacy of colonialism within Africa and the environmental response to consumption and waste. His sculptures have been collected by major international museums, including the British Museum, London, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the de Young Museum, San Francisco, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Abu Dhabi’s Guggenheim and the museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf. In 2015 El Anatsui was awarded the Venice Biennale art exhibition’s Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement.

Here El Anatsui is at his studio in Ghana, where he invited Efiɛ Gallery to shoot a short film showcasing the unique studio process of his work. The Full Film was premiered at the Efiɛ Gallery debut exhibition in Dubai, alongside four installations of his work.

Director: King Henry Blackson
Management: Afia Owusu-Afriyie
Producer: Kofi Owusu-Afriyie
Director of Photography: Samuel Edem Wunu
Photographer: Deryk Owusu-Bempah
Editor: Eric Yirenkyi and Kobi Mintah

Selected works

Elephant in the Room, 2022, Tropical hardwood, 160cm x 270cm
Elephant in the Room, 2022
Tropical hardwood, 161 x 266.7 cm
Profile of a country, 2022
Aluminium bottle caps and strips connected with copper wire 304.8 x 274.32 cm
Ancient text, 2021
Scorched tropical hardwood 260 x 165 cm

News

Detsi, 2021.
Aluminium and copper, 300 x 800 cm
DNA, 2021. Scorched tropical hard wood planks, 239 x 152 cm
DNA, 2021
Scorched tropical hard wood planks, 239 x 152 cm
Silent One, 2021
Silent One, 2021
Aluminium and copper 320 cm x 310 cm
TT, 2021 Aluminium and copper 300 cm x 620.6 cm
TT, 2021
Aluminium and copper 300 cm x 620.6 cm
No, thank you. I do not want.