El Anatsui: Language & Symbols | "Exclusive" | Art21

Episode #165: Filmed in 2011 at The Museum of Modern Art in Hayama, Japan, El Anatsui discusses the role of language and symbols in his artwork. When naming works such as "Gli" (2010), Anatsui often uses his native language of Ewe because Ewe words can have a range of meanings when pronounced differently. Anatsui also describes the formative experience of discovering adinkra symbols, a West African system of abstract symbols that represent specific concepts or aphorisms.

Working with wood, clay, metal, and the discarded metal caps of liquor bottles, El Anatsui breaks with sculpture's traditional adherence to forms of fixed shape while visually referencing the history of abstraction in African and European art. Anatsui's works trace a broader story of colonial and postcolonial economic and cultural exchange, told in the history of cast-off materials, while exploring ideas about the everyday function of objects and the role of language in deciphering visual symbols.

Learn more about El Anatsui at:
http://www.art21.org/artists/el-anatsui

CREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Takahisa Araki & Joel Shapiro. Sound: Steve Bores. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: El Anatsui & Museum for African Art. Special Thanks: Lisa Binder, The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, Japan, Jack Shainman Gallery & Wellesley College. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

[sound of foil pieces tapping against each other in the wind]

I wish that I spoke more languages

because I think each language is a window completely.

It's a new window.

I at times regret that I'm not very good at languages.

I'd love to have more windows opening to me.

There are times that I name my--title my--works in my language, Ewe

Like in my language, there are several words which would have multiple meanings

With a little tonality change, the word "Gli"

can mean so many things

"Gli" is "wall"

"Gli", same spelling, is "story"

"Gli" is like "disrupt"

or "Gli" can mean erupt

And so on and so forth

Several of the words that I use have such a range of meanings

Whereas with English I find that it is a bit specific

And since I'm working with the idea of non-fixity

and something indeterminate, I don't want the language to inform.

Because wanting it to inform, and by giving it a context

you limit its ability to stretch,

and I want it to remain contextless

so that it leads you anywhere.

The tradition that actually started my profession off

was this collection of symbols that

they call Adinkra symbols

"Adinkra" means saying goodbye.

It's actually a series of signs and symbols that

are printed on textiles.

In a library, I read a couple of books

in which there were claims that Africa didn't have art

or that African art is not abstract

and then I saw these signs in which you clearly see

people making attempts to encapsulate abstract ideas

like the oneness of God or unity

That really opened my eyes, and I stayed with those signs for well over 5 years

after I finished school.

Just like in Europe you will go to the museum to see

the artworks of your forebearers,

this was my museum that I discovered.