1
00:00:00,221 --> 00:00:03,416
[ atmospheric electronic music ]

2
00:00:17,923 --> 00:00:19,760
[ EL ANATSUI ]
This is a group photograph.

3
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:21,480
And in a group photograph,

4
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,960
you are thinking about kinship,
you know.

5
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,160
Kinship,
it's a particular group.

6
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:30,913
And then they happen to be
close together.

7
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:39,480
Originally,
they were spread wide apart.

8
00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,560
You know,
so what I've tried to do is,

9
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,387
to bring them together
so that they are a group.

10
00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,920
I come from a family
of very many people,

11
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,040
about 32 siblings,

12
00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:56,810
and– and probably
this is a reflection of that.

13
00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:04,440
I was born in Ghana.

14
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:09,789
My mom died
when I was toddler,

15
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,573
pretty young,
about two or three.

16
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,960
And so I had to live
with my maternal uncle,

17
00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:21,320
you know, a reverend.

18
00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:26,120
And we lived in a mission house
off the presbyterian school.

19
00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,000
My life revolved
only around a mission house

20
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,000
and the church,

21
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,120
school, church, you know.

22
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,960
And I remember that as a kid,
pre-kindergarten,

23
00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:44,080
I was intrigued by writings
on the doors of offices,

24
00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,080
you know, or even classrooms,

25
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,680
you know, that I saw around me.

26
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:54,560
And I used to sit down
and try to

27
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,560
emulate, you know,
those writings.

28
00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,640
I didn't know what they meant,
but, uh–

29
00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,083
and I remember
that the letter "G"

30
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,520
Was more intriguing to me
than all others– all of–

31
00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:08,840
well, I don't know why.

32
00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,160
Maybe because it has
so many appendages or–

33
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,640
it's not like "C" or the others.

34
00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,200
It's a "C"
with something else on it.

35
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,468
You know,
it was intriguing to me.

36
00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,920
I went to art school in Ghana,

37
00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:37,080
which was an offshoot

38
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,661
of the Goldsmiths art school
in London.

39
00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:43,720
At the time I went
to university,

40
00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,569
I didn't know about anybody
who was living as an artist.

41
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,880
You know,
you knew about art teachers.

42
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,280
I met art teachers
in the secondary school.

43
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,600
but there were more teachers
than artists, you know.

44
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,800
And then I was wondering
how one was going to be

45
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,000
an artist
living purely on art.

46
00:03:07,056 --> 00:03:10,192
We knew about doctors.
We knew about lawyers.

47
00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,000
I constantly kept thinking,

48
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,638
"What precisely do you do
as an artist?"

49
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:24,700
I think that has helped
focus me a lot, you know,

50
00:03:24,700 --> 00:03:27,960
At least to concentrate
on the practice of art

51
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:29,680
and see what I can
get out of it.

52
00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,320
As a matter of principle,

53
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,040
I do not provide
installation instructions

54
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,255
for my works.

55
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,400
There's no one particular way

56
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,720
that these are
supposed to be installed.

57
00:04:01,005 --> 00:04:04,080
- So to the left
a little bit.

58
00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:05,481
Right there.

59
00:04:06,817 --> 00:04:08,296
All right, spear away.

60
00:04:14,391 --> 00:04:17,834
[ EL ANATSUI ] Since they are so free
and so loose and so flexible,

61
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,960
It would be difficult
to have a specific format

62
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,700
for any one of them at anytime.

63
00:04:25,700 --> 00:04:27,958
- I don't have any other space
that I can hit.

64
00:04:27,958 --> 00:04:28,958
- Amanda?
- Yeah?

65
00:04:28,958 --> 00:04:30,360
- Okay if we start
snipping the ties off?

66
00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:31,560
- I think it is, yeah.

67
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,360
- Okay. Yeah.
Start snipping those ties.

68
00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:36,840
When they lift that bar out,

69
00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,028
you're gonna need to lift up
the work, yeah.

70
00:04:40,236 --> 00:04:41,867
- We're good.
Lift up the bar.

71
00:04:46,339 --> 00:04:48,083
[tool whirring]

72
00:04:50,772 --> 00:04:54,598
[ EL ANATSUI ] "Stressed World" is the title
that I give my current work.

73
00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,198
- Yeah, I want to create some...

74
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:01,720
some crazy here.
- Yeah.

75
00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,680
- Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay.

76
00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,680
[ EL ANATSUI ] There are so many conflicts
going on in the world right now,

77
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,000
Man-made conflicts,
natural conflicts:

78
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,980
earthquakes, tsunamis, wars.

79
00:05:17,931 --> 00:05:19,080
I'm not sure about all these–

80
00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,920
leave you in a state of
kind of siege.

81
00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,668
Yeah, your mind
is in a state of siege.

82
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:35,000
- I think it's okay.

83
00:05:38,033 --> 00:05:39,800
- It's nice.
[metal clinking]

84
00:05:42,627 --> 00:05:44,112
- Be careful of your wrists, man.

85
00:05:48,944 --> 00:05:51,729
- The media I've worked with
so far have been

86
00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,732
metal, ceramic,
and wood in different forms.

87
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:04,520
Working with strips of wood,

88
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:09,920
I changed my approach
a little bit,

89
00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,240
You know, by working not with
strips of wood that's processed,

90
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:18,276
but then wood
which has been used by humans...

91
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,120
and then transform
it into something

92
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:26,538
that you contemplate,

93
00:06:27,643 --> 00:06:29,400
not something you use.

94
00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,052
I like the drape of that.

95
00:06:55,702 --> 00:06:58,606
Okay, Sally, I want some
relaxation in some places,

96
00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:00,780
and, yeah.

97
00:07:01,757 --> 00:07:02,960
- It's different every time.

98
00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,160
- Yeah, every time
it's different.

99
00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:06,626
That's the whole idea.

100
00:07:07,731 --> 00:07:10,485
Supposed to change
with every venue

101
00:07:10,485 --> 00:07:12,208
and every space.

102
00:07:20,381 --> 00:07:23,660
[ EL ANATSUI ] The ceramic pieces belong
to a series that I did.

103
00:07:23,660 --> 00:07:26,160
It was called broken pots.

104
00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,160
In most parts of Africa,
when a pot is broken,

105
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,118
it's not the end of its life.

106
00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:36,307
This idea of regeneration,

107
00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,987
you know,
giving form to new life,

108
00:07:43,023 --> 00:07:46,206
bringing about new hope,
you know.

109
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,960
And I did these pieces
at the time that also–

110
00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:53,600
already in Nigeria.

111
00:07:53,600 --> 00:08:00,569
And the economy of Ghana
was really at its lowest point.

112
00:08:01,469 --> 00:08:05,360
You know, and I thought that
that was my own way

113
00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,744
of affirming something positive,

114
00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:17,362
destruction as a prerequisite
for new ideas or for new growth.

115
00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,800
When I started working
with the bottle caps,

116
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,880
I was purely doing sculpture.

117
00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,080
and somehow, inadvertently,

118
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,080
the color scheme
of the bottle caps

119
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:39,880
happened to replicate that of
a very popular fabric in Ghana,

120
00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:41,640
The kente cloth.

121
00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,520
Colors of kente cloth
are traditionally

122
00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,332
the reds, the blacks,
the yellows.

123
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,440
That created problems,

124
00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,040
because when people start
looking at it as textiles,

125
00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,480
the tendency is for them to stop

126
00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,200
looking for any meaning
beyond that.

127
00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,000
What are bottle caps?
Liquor.

128
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,400
How did liquor
come into my culture?

129
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:08,904
And what does it mean?

130
00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,200
Three continents
has something to do with

131
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:17,200
the initial ideas that I had
about bottle caps.

132
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:21,640
When the European traders came
to Africa for the first time,

133
00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:23,858
they brought items
to trade with,

134
00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:25,838
things like drink,

135
00:09:27,020 --> 00:09:28,160
because, eventually,

136
00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,600
drinks were exchanged for slaves
who were brought to America

137
00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,080
to grow more cotton
and sugarcane

138
00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,116
to make more drink
and then ship to Europe.

139
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,120
So the idea of three continents,
you know,

140
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:53,204
and how drink was a link factor
between the three.

141
00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,600
When I started working
with these bottle caps,

142
00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,120
I thought it was gonna be
a very short run.

143
00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:07,920
Then as time went on,

144
00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:12,171
I saw that the possibilities
are just endless.

145
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,880
Initially, I wasn't
concerned with color.

146
00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,104
Now I'm concerned with color
like a painter.

147
00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:28,486
Even the modes of display,
they are beginning to expand.

148
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,120
They happen to be displayed
predominantly on the wall.

149
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:33,680
[laughs]

150
00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:35,840
But it could be on anything.

151
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,295
It could be on the floor.

152
00:10:38,534 --> 00:10:43,966
I've showed a couple of them
on hedges, you know, on plants.

153
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,000
You know,
the concerns of a sculptor

154
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,200
and the concerns of a painter

155
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,742
are inherent
in each of the works that I do.

156
00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,640
I went to Nigeria
because I had an appointment

157
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:03,840
to teach in the university.

158
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,951
I've lived in Nigeria
about 36 years now.

159
00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,000
My assistants are young men

160
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,200
from around the vicinity
of the studio.

161
00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,760
Basically, these are people
who just finished high school

162
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,783
and awaiting
entry into university.

163
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:24,840
It takes quite some time

164
00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,960
for people to pass
the university entrance exam.

165
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,440
And so while they are waiting
and preparing for that day,

166
00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,440
find time to help me
in the studio

167
00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,043
and earn some– a living.

168
00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:40,440
Probably because I pay so well

169
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,100
that a lot of them do come
to ask whether they could help.

170
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,440
Anybody I bring in has to
undergo some basic training

171
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,040
on how to stitch
the pieces together,

172
00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:55,516
some basic skills.

173
00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:02,640
The whole process
and end product

174
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,040
all have to do with freedom,
flexibility, you know.

175
00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:08,600
so right from the instructions
they, you know–

176
00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,440
you leave a lot of room
for people to play around.

177
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:18,818
So the resulting work tends
to have that flexibility in it.

178
00:12:21,342 --> 00:12:23,460
Basically, I work in this way
that–

179
00:12:23,460 --> 00:12:25,480
where I pick a medium
or a process,

180
00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,160
and I work with it
for a long period, years.

181
00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:34,360
And it has to take something
more powerful or more demanding

182
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,587
to really take me away from it.

183
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:40,040
At the back of my mind,

184
00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,640
I'm seriously looking out
for anything

185
00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,920
that can come and displace this.

186
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:48,520
[laughs]

187
00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,000
But it would take something
really strong to do that,

188
00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,240
because I find that each day

189
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,200
I go into handle
these bottle caps,

190
00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,556
they keep generating
fresh ideas.

191
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,280
I lived with my maternal uncle
in a different town

192
00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:09,080
from where my father

193
00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,173
and the rest of my brothers
and sisters lived.

194
00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:17,400
And so I had
very little exposure

195
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:22,141
to the textiles tradition
that was very strong with them.

196
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,080
And in art school,

197
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:27,120
we were introduced
to all the areas of art.

198
00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,760
And the one that least
attracted me was textiles.

199
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:32,440
You know?
[laughs]

200
00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:38,480
But then– I find it intriguing
that what I do now is very much

201
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,480
aligned to– like me trying
to get away from textiles,

202
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,360
but textiles is following--
[laughs]

203
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:45,840
following me.

204
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,143
I don't know.

205
00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,720
I think the idea of recycle,
you know,

206
00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:57,269
I've always kicked against it.

207
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,920
Recycling has to do
with the industrial process,

208
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,267
And that's not what I do.

209
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,440
I don't, for instance,
retain the bottle caps

210
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,501
back as bottle caps.

211
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:15,880
Yeah, you know, a new life.

212
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:21,320
And make them not objects
that do something utilitarian,

213
00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,002
but objects of contemplation.

214
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:35,100
[metal clinking]

215
00:15:02,956 --> 00:15:05,716
- Here we go.
Come around here like this.

216
00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:09,707
Go like that.

217
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,160
Okay, it's a very long–
[laughs]

218
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:17,267
It's a very long route.

219
00:15:17,267 --> 00:15:18,956
Okay, so let's start from here.

220
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,920
Actually, the river
should be emptying out.

221
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:25,630
and then the source should be–
- Coming out--

222
00:15:26,838 --> 00:15:29,532
- In the middle of, yeah.

223
00:15:31,331 --> 00:15:33,501
So this one's come.

224
00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:37,960
This is called Digital River.

225
00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,160
And it's composed of digits,
you know.

226
00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:48,480
And so it compels one to always
try to play around with it.

227
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:49,617
- This way.

228
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:59,880
It should begin to swing back...
Yeah.

229
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:04,024
So that it would end
maybe somewhere here.

230
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,480
The rivers flow.
They do change their course.

231
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,240
And you know,
they cut out oxbow lakes.

232
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:13,809
And all kinds of things and–

233
00:16:14,709 --> 00:16:20,480
you know, I think my work has
principally been about change,

234
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:26,920
You know,
and nonfixity of things.

235
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,600
You know,
the fact that things are there,

236
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,320
and they have to grow old
and change

237
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,135
and do all kinds of things,
you know.

238
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,712
It's not because I'm old now.

239
00:16:38,712 --> 00:16:40,597
[laughs]