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| El Anatsui - The Red Moon |
El Anatsui - Behind the Red Moon is the latest Hyundai Commission on show in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London. El Anatsui was born in Ghana and currently works in both Ghana and Nigeria. His monumental sculptures are made up of thousands of bottle tops and fragments.
As you enter the Turbine Hall, descending the ramp, the first of three sculptures greets you. This is The Red Moon which, we are told, looks like a billowing sail. The circular Red Blood Moon element within the sail is made of bottle tops...
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| El Anatsui - The Red Moon (detail) |
The reverse side looks like a large yellow sail...
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| El Anatsui - The Red Moon (yellow side) |
The symbolism of the sails was to bring to mind ships and the transportation of goods and people across the globe. Sailors would also sometimes use the moon for navigational purposes. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, enslaved African peoples were taken across the ocean to the Americas where they were sold or traded for goods such as gold, sugar, spirits and other commodities. The bottle tops used in the piece come from modern commodities rooted in colonial industries, thus El Anatsui hopes to expose the connected histories of Europe, Africa and America through the use of waste from industries built on colonial trade routes.
The next piece you come to is The World. From underneath and from the main gallery side it just looks like a series of fragments of knitted wire or wire mesh but when viewed from a particular point on the bridge all the fragments line up to look like the world. The circular nature of this piece echoes the circular moon in The Red Moon.
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| El Anatsui - The World |
El Anatsui sees fragments as a symbol of renewal and restoration with the capacity to reform.
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| El Anatsui - The World |
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| El Anatsui - The World |
The final piece is The Wall. This is the largest piece and like The Red Moon, is double sided...
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| El Anatsui - The Wall |
The side you first encounter is largely black and trails on the floor in folds. El Anatsui sees the black as symbolising Africa and its diaspora with a potential for homecoming and return.
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| El Anatsui - The Wall (detail) |
The reverse side is brighter in colour....
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| El Anatsui - The Wall |
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| El Anatsui - The Wall (detail) |
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| El Anatsui - The Wall (detail) |
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| El Anatsui - The Wall (detail) |
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| El Anatsui - The Wall (detail) |
El Anatsui sees walls as both structures that constrain and encircle but also that hide things. In hiding things, he thinks this may provoke curiosity which could be harnessed to overcome the constraining nature of the walls.
He sees the black and multicoloured nature of The Wall as symbolising the clash of global cultures and the hybrid identities that result.
The Wall and The Red Moon look like large patchwork quilts made from recycled metal pieces that are stitched together with wire. As such, they could be taken apart and reconstructed to create different installations. They are fascinating. The wall is particularly interesting as you can get close to it to see how it has been made and what it is made up of. Anatsui works with a large team of assistants who work together to assemble the sculptures.
This exhibition is on until 14 April 2024. Go see - definitely worth visiting!
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