El Anatsui, who was born in Ghana and now works in Nigeria, is widely considered today's foremost contemporary African sculptor. Anatsui's wall-hanging sculptures are assembled from found materials-typically thousands of discarded aluminum caps and seals from liquor bottles, which he flattens, shapes, perforates, and painstakingly assembles with copper wire. Although he considers himself a sculptor, the artist meticulously orchestrates his materials like a painter working with oil on canvas or the director of a tapestry workshop. His work is anchored firmly in his traditional culture (Ghanaian kente cloth), Western art (mosaic, tapestry, chain-mail armor, the paintings of Gustav Klimt), and contemporary life (the consumption of alcohol, the detritus of consumerism). According to the artist, the title, Dusasa, can be translated as a "communal patchwork made by a team of townspeople," analogous to the artist's team of assistants.
