El Anatsui: Australia’s first look at Africa’s Golden Lion
Third world liquor bottle caps are transformed into artworks that earned Ghanian artist El Anatsui the international lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale.
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Visual Arts
Installation view El Anatsui: Five Decades, a Schwartz Carriageworks Project, Sydney 2016; Photo ArtsHub
The first major exhibition of the Ghanian artist El Anatsui to be presented in Australia is being staged at Carriageworks as part of the Sydney Festival.
Anatsui is well-known for his large-scale sculptures composed of thousands of flattened and folded scrap metal elements, usually bottle caps sourced from local African alcohol and stitched together with copper wire.
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
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