ANGELIQUE KIDJO (NARRATOR): Renowned sculptor El Anatsui created this splendid, glittering metallic tapestry.

Here is the artist reflecting on aesthetics.

EL ANATSUI: In many of our traditions in Africa, we don’t regard beauty as something that belongs to the eye, but when you talk about a beautiful person, you’re talking about somebody with a good character. The Yorubas will call itìwà l'ẹ̀wà, ‘character is beauty,’ and I think the two are married in my work. There is the ocular beauty, but then when you get close, you can see that there is some content which also has some beauty.

ANGELIQUE KIDJO: El Anatsui transforms mundane media, such as the recycled bottle caps used in this tapestry, to create transcendent aesthetic experiences.

EL ANATSUI: My processes that I use now, especially in this particular work, connects with the older African art in the sense that everything is handmade. There’s nothing mechanical at all. It’s a lot of labor and time (Laughs) consuming process.

Working in this way gives me the freedom to create a work which is capable of being shaped in so many ways, from densely crumpled to almost flat, but I prefer that it’s not hung very flat so that it looks like a painting. It should have a sculpture effect by having some creases.

###

Music: "We Are One," Angélique Kidjo (Disney)