Noted Ghanaian artist El Anatsui works with a variety of found objects, including wood, ceramics, and discarded pieces of metal. For the past 28 years, he has lived in Nigeria, where he as spent a substantial time creating metal "cloths" from the aluminum wrappings from the tops of bottles from local distilleries. This utterly engaging online exhibit from the National Museum of African Art is offered as a complement to an in situ exhibit at the museum's headquarters. On the site, visitors will have the opportunity to listen to El Anatsui talk about three of the objects in this show via a podcast. Before doing so, they may wish to read through the "About the Artist" to learn a bit more about his life and artistic philosophy. After this, visitors will want to get into the thick of things by clicking on the "Artworks" area. Here, visitors can get a sense of his bold projects, which include the "Peak Project", which was inspired by "huge piles of detritus from consumption." All of these works are thought-provoking, and they could even be used in an environmental studies course.
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