El Anatsui

Oases, 2014-2016

Over the past four decades the Ghanaian sculptor, El Anatsui has created a vast body of work that has expanded the language of contemporary sculpture in Africa and internationally. The work, Oases (2014-2016) was included in Anatsui’s solo exhibition, Meyina (2016) — the first exhibition by the artists in South Africa — curated by the late Bisi Silva who was the director for the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos. The exhibition presented a portrait of the artist by bringing together disparate fragments to form a whole. Alongside seven large-scale sculptural installations, the exhibition brought together a collection of archival objects selected from Anatsui’s studio, study and library in Nsukka, Nigeria. The sculptural installations, which read like intricate tapestries, are composed of folded pieces of metal sourced from local alcohol recycling stations and old printing plates, which are intricately bound together with copper wire.