El Anatsui – Unconventional Mosaic Art

El Anatsui’s clothlike mosaics are impossibly intricate, not only with the materials used, but with the history and ideas they represent. A look at the whole shows projections of traditional African cloths.

Upon closer examination you being to realize that each hammered metal piece tells a very different story.  The scraps of metal he strings together include aluminum wrappings of old liquor bottles from local distilleries as well as bottles shipped to Africa as means of trade for salves.

Each mosaic comments on the havoc colonialism brought upon Africa, as well as the strength of the African tradition.

Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up

El Anatsui gets his materials from recycling plants, found trash, and many other oddities

This piece is meant to resemble the Adinkra mourning cloths of Ghana.  Many of the pieces are metal plates one used for funeral announcements.  The names of the deceased are immortalized in his mosaic.

each piece of metal holds just as much importance as the whole experience.

El Anatsui: Gawu is a traveling exhibit that has been internationally recognized.