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.

（金属薄片在风中互相敲击的声音）

我希望我会讲更多的语言，

因为我觉得每一门语言都是一扇窗。

一扇新的窗子。

有时候我很是惋惜自己语言学得不好。

我希望更多的窗子能为我而开。

有时候我用我自己的语言—克瓦语—命名我的作品。

在我的语言中，有许多词都有多重含义。

"Gli" 这个词，只要语调稍稍变换一下，

就能有许多意思。

"Gli"有“墙”的意思。

"Gli" 一模一样的拼写，

等等等等。