The Transformation of Commodity into Artistic Practice: El Anatsui and Metal

Focusing on the metal installations of Ghanaian-Nigerian artist El Anatsui, the present paper evaluates his contributions to local and cultural values as well as the sculpture and analyzes his artworks through a selected example. The paper analyzes El Anatsui’s artworks created in and after 1998, which has an important place in the historical perspective of contemporary African art, and proposes a versatile perspective on the artist's metal hangings. The data analyzed within the scope of the subject is an output of the literature review presented with qualitative research methods. Going beyond conventional materials and forms of representation, the artist presents a new narrative. The metal material, which is processed in the artworks with the subjective interpretation of the artist as an unique medium, is handled with its history, quality and aesthetic value. The present study helps to make sense of Anatsui’s art in the context of political instability, cultural values, recycling, sustainability, immigration and the problem of identity. This context is important, for throughout the research, the artist’s approach that synthesizes the local and the global behind his practices and his transmission have been questioned. Using local resources, Anatsui’s ‘indigenous’ identity cannot be disregarded in terms of the symbolism at the center of his artistic practice. The practices make a connection between West Africa’s long-standing textile tradition and the industrial waste materials from cultural encounters as an outcome of colonialism. It is inferred that metal hangings are a reflection of the political, historical and sociocultural elements that lie at the origins of Africa, and that it is these elements that determine their artistic value. In the abstract metal sheets, a connection is made between the search for national unity in the postcolonial period and the traditional kente cloth. The artist is evaluated as an important figure in defining postcolonial identity discourse and cultural biography using existing local resources. It is aimed to present an alternative perspective on the practices, which constitutes the content of the research, and to contribute to the literature.