“I had been working with Ghanaian adinkra symbols printed on cloth for a long time. These symbols were very intriguing to me not only because they refer to proverbs but also that they try to graphically encapsulate abstract concepts such as the soul, versatility, God’s omnipotence, and so on. I discovered the round wooden trays in the market where they were used for displaying wares. I traced the carvers to their village and I stayed with them while they worked on trays I commissioned. What was important to me was that I was working with a local form and a very low-tech process.” — El Anatsui

“At the time I made the Broken Pots series, I was thinking about the idea of breaking not as an end but as a beginning. When a pot breaks, as a ceramicist, you can grind the pieces into clay for a fresh substance which becomes stronger as a result. When I made those pots, Ghana’s economy was completely in tatters. In retrospect, I regard my process as an exhortation; that things have to break in order to start reshaping.” — El Anatsui

Begins to incorporate adinkra, a Ghanaian symbolic language of ideograms, into his art practice. One of the symbols, sankofa, represents a bird known for its ability to look backward and is associated with the concept of looking to the past in order to plan the future. Anatsui’s use of adinkra is an attempt to use tradition as a way of moving art forward.

1972–75 Exhibits with a group of artists who hold annual shows in Ghana (both at Winneba and Accra) under the name Tekarts. Members include Desmond Fiadjoe, Philip Amonoo, Edith Agbenaza, Richard Ekem, Hope Gamor, and David Akotia.

1975–1982 Lecturer, Fine and Applied Arts Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

1976 First major solo exhibition, Wooden Wall Plaques by El Anatsui, held in Nsukka, Nigeria. The plaques are produced by the same carvers that make trays for market wares. Anatsui marked the trays with adinkra symbols and hung them on a wall. This is the first time Anatsui sculpts with materials originally intended for another use.

1977–79 Begins to work on his Broken Pots series in 1977—a group of ceramics based on the idea that fragments of a sculpture, or pieces of history, are equally powerful as a complete work. Exhibits the suite in 1979 at the British Council, Enugu and at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Opening of Wooden Wall Plaques by El Anatsui, 1976. Courtesy the artist On Their Fateful Journey Nowhere, 1974–75. Wood, paint, lacquer, aluminum. Collection of Dr. Elizabeth A. Péri. Photo: Museum for African Art/Jerry L. Thompson

El Anatsui working in his studio at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on a piece from the Broken Pots series, 1977. Courtesy the artist

Omen, 1978. Ceramic, manganese. Collection of the artist. Photo: Museum for African Art/Kelechi Amadi-Obi

1970sSketchbook with adinkra motifs, 1980s. Ink on paper. Collection of the artist.

1965–68 Attends College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

1969 Receives postgraduate diploma in Art Education from University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

1969–1975 Lecturer, Art Education Department, Specialist Training College, Winneba, Ghana (now University of Education, Winneba).

1944 Born in Anyako, in the Volta Region of Ghana.

1965 Produces heraldic sculptures, including coats of arms for Ghana, Uganda, Tunisia, and Zambia, in preparation for a meeting of the heads of state for the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.) conference in Accra, Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s leader at the time, was made Secretary-General of the O.A.U. in October 1965, and presided over the summit.

El Anatsui receiving his B.A. Degree, 1968. Courtesy the artist

1960sCourtesy the artist

1986 Creates a wood sculpture and several prints titled When I last wrote to you about Africa . . . (or a variation of that title), using adinkra symbols. This wood sculpture is rare for Anatsui in that it consists of horizontal, rather than vertical, wood slats.

1986 Founding member, AKA Circle of Exhibiting Artists in its first year, 1986, and participates in their exhibitions for more than a decade. Each exhibition starts in Enugu and continues on to Lagos. Other founding members include Obiora Udechukwu, Tayo Adenaike, Chris Afuba, Chike Aniakor, Obiora Anidi, Ifediorama Dike, Chike Ebebe, Chris Echeta, Nsikak Essien, Bona Ezeudu, Boniface Okafor, and Samson Uchendu.

Makes a number of paintings during this period using colors and patterns that later appear in some of his carved wood sculptures and his sculptures using metal bottle tops.

1982–1996 Senior lecturer, Fine and Applied Arts Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

1983 Joins an art collective called SKEP, coined from the initials of members S.P.K. Awa, S.E. Anku and E.K. Anatsui. Out of a series of proposals submitted, Anatsui’s designs, Ambivalent Hold and For the Upliftment of Man were selected by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to be realized on the grounds of the new Physical Sciences building. The sculptures were fabricated jointly by the group.

Mid-1980s Makes wall sculptures from wooden slats that hang vertically side by side. Continues to use this format throughout his career.

“The wood strips have the ability to cover large areas. You can shift the individual strips around—although people are generally reluctant to do so. Only a few artist colleagues have taken the cue, with wonderful results. One such colleague commissioned a work and requested that I did not number the wood strips. After I finished the piece and he mounted it, I found that his installation was very articulate.” — El Anatsui

Untitled, 1980s. Acrylic on Masonite. Collection of the artist. Photo: Museum for African Art/Jerry L. Thompson

1985–87 Visiting artist at the Cornwall College of Further and Higher Education in Redruth, England. In 1987, a solo exhibition, Venovize: Ceramic Sculpture by El Anatsui, is held at the college.

1980s

For the Upliftment of Man, installation view, Physical Sciences Building, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1983. Terrazzo. Photo: Museum for African Art/ Kelechi Amadi-Obi

Sketch for When I last wrote to you about Africa . . . , 1980s. Ink on paper. Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist

When I last wrote to you about Africa, I used a letterheaded parchment paper, There were many blank slots in the letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I can now fill some of these slots because . . . . . I have grown older, 1986. Wood. Private collection, Germany. Photo: Museum for African Art/Jerry L. Thompson

Timeline graphic:18.5 feet width x 29 inches height

1990 Participates in the exhibition Five Contemporary African Artists at the 44th Venice Biennale.

1990 Begins to make wood sculptures using a chainsaw during an artist-in-residence program at the Cummington Community of Arts in Massachusetts.

2001 Creates the ceramic-and-glass sculpture Digital River for the Biennale de Ceramica dell’ Arte Contemporanea, Villa Groppallo, Vado Ligure, Italy.

1992 Produces the wood sculpture Erosion at an Earth Summit workshop in Manaus, Brazil. The works made by participants are displayed in the exhibition Arte Amazonas at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.

2002 Begins to make sculpture from the metal tops of local liquor bottles, which he finds while walking in the area surrounding the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Liquor brand names include Black Gold, Chelsea, Dark Sailor, Ecomog, King Edward, Mac Lord, 007, and Top Squad, among others.

1999 Creates the wood sculpture Signature at the Cyfuniad International Artists Workshop, Plas Caerdon, Wales. In Nigeria, wood planks and logs cut for sale are often marked with a stroke of paint to denote the log’s owner. In Signature, Anatsui makes reference to this practice and the individual “signature” left behind.

2007 Participates in the 52nd Venice Biennale, where his bottle-cap sculptures Dusasa I and Dusasa II are installed as focal points in the international exhibition in the Arsenale; a third bottle-cap sculpture, Fresh and Fading Memories, is draped over the entrance of the Palazzo Fortuny, commissioned for the exhibition there, Artempo: Where Time Becomes Art.

“The quality that drew me to working with a chainsaw was the idea that it made cutting so easy and fast. I thought that what the chainsaw was most adapted for was line-making. It acts in a very violent way that led me to explore themes like the shearing of Africa—that too was done very simply, cheaply, and fast.” — El Anatsui

“I had only one day to work during an artist residency in Italy so I had to think of something that could be achieved quickly. I flattened clay into about thirty bricks. I used a tool to scoop out the center. I requested the leftover beer bottles from our lunch. I broke them and placed them in the spaces I had removed from the bricks. When the clay was fired, the green and brown bottles melted to fill the empty spaces.” — El Anatsui

Akua’s Surviving Children, 1996. Wood, metal. Collection of the artist and October Gallery, London. Photo: October Gallery/Andy Keate

Sacred Moon, 2007. Aluminum, copper wire. Collection of Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan 608. Photo: Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

El Anatsui working on Erosion. Courtesy the artist Digital River, 2001. Ceramic, glass. Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, 02863/ 1-33. Photo: Museum for African Art/Jerry L. Thompson

Erosion, 1992. Wood, paint, woodchips, sawdust. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Museum purchase, 96-36-1. Photo: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution/Franko Khoury

1996 Creates the wood sculpture Akua’s Surviving Children from driftwood found on the beach while he is a visiting artist at International People’s College, Helsingør, Denmark.

1998–2000 Head of Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

2004 Creates the wood sculpture Aziza Gate during a residency at the Eden Project, Cornwall, U.K.

2005 Participates in Africa 05 celebration in London and in the touring exhibition Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent.

1990s 2000

Signature, installation view, Plas Caerdon, Wales, 1999. Wood, paint. Formerly collection of the artist (now destroyed). Photo: Oriel Mostyn Gallery/Martin Barlow

Aziza Gate, installation view, Cornwall, U.K., 2004. Wood. Collection of the artist. Photo: Eden Project/Charles Francis

Fresh and Fading Memories, 2007. Aluminum, copper wire. Private collection. Photo: Axel Vervoordt/ Jean-Pierre Gabriel

Dusasa I, 2007. Aluminum, copper wire. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008.2. Photo: Jack Shainman Gallery, NY

“For Erosion, I sat down and spent about a month or more engraving symbols and signs from many cultures of the world on a log of wood. At the end of it I asked for a chainsaw, and within one hour I had cut off so much that only sporadic vestiges of ‘cultures’ and chainsaw marks were left.” — El Anatsui

“When I first found the bag of bottle tops, I thought of the objects as links between Africa and Europe. The bottle tops were introduced by European traders, and alcohol was one of the commodities they brought with them to exchange for African goods. Eventually alcohol was used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Europeans made rum in the West Indies, took it to Liverpool, and then sent it back to Africa. For me, the bottle caps have a strong reference to the history of Africa.” — El Anatsui

“I made this work in Denmark during an artist’s residency in Helsingør. During slavery, Denmark was active only on the Gold Coast. I was walking on the beach when I saw a piece of eroded wood that had washed ashore and was shaped in a very telling way. I looked in the distance and saw many other pieces of wood. This was the material I used to make Akua’s Surviving Children. The pieces suggested the idea of being torn from one’s roots and tossed about in the oceans.” — El Anatsui

“The liquor bottle tops and labels have something in common with the Ghanaian practice of naming textiles. The names given to textiles and drinks reveal a lot about the culture and, at times, the history of a place. So when I use these tops I want people to get close to them so that they can read the labels. They expect to see a fabric-like weave. Then they realize it doesn’t have a weave and is made of bottle tops and has words written on it.” — El Anatsui

2010

El Anatsui constructing Gli, a bottle-top sculpture, at Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas, 2010. Photo: Rice University Art Gallery/© Nash Baker

2011 Participates in the exhibition Who Knows Tomorrow in Berlin. Ozone Layer and Yam Mound(s) is installed over the entire façade of the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

2010 Retires as Professor from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka after thirty-five years of teaching.

Ozone Layer and Yam Mound(s), 2010. Collection of the artist. Photo: Chika Okeke-Agulu