Artist-Textile, 1988
Christoph Ludszuweit, Berlin, Germany
Ludszuweit worked from 1983 to 1988 as a lecturer in German language and literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukku, Anambra State, Nigeria. El Anatsui was his collegue at the time as a Senior Lecturer.
Description
cotton cloth, yellow paint,
The works from his 1988 limited edition of curtains can be be considered as a pre-stage of the developement of his later wall hangings. In the collection of the Iwalewa Haus in Bayreuth 3 works of this edition can be found. Only eight examples of this edition were made in 1988 by El Anatsui in Nsukka.
Anatsui was born in Anyako, in the Volta Region of Ghana, and trained at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi, in central Ghana. He began teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975, and has become affiliated with the Nsukka group.
Anatsui’s preferred media are clay and wood, which he uses to create objects based on traditional Ghanaian beliefs and other subjects. He has cut wood with chainsaws and blackened it with acetylene torches; more recently, he has turned to installation art. Some of his works resemble woven cloths such as “kente” cloth but were not intended as textiles, but as sculptures. Anatsui incorporates “Adinsubli” for his works, an acronym made up of uli, nsibidi, and Adinkra symbols,