Sacred Moon

Ghanan artist, El Anatsui’s piece, Sacred Moon is especially captivating to me.  When viewed from a distance, this piece looks like it is made of rich, shiny materials.  Yet when focused more up close you can see it is in fact made of bottle caps woven together.  This juxtaposition is interesting.  Although this piece may seem to exemplify the rise of recycling, El Anatsui is firm that his artwork is not about found materials but instead about transformation, giving objects news lives as they are transformed into something else.  Additionally, it is intended to speak of African cultures demand to reuse all things because they cannot afford to waste.  On this piece there is a Y of black and red, running down the left.  These metal bands are made up of labels for rum and whisky.  These speak not only of consumption and international trade, but also legacies of slavery, in which imported rum was often both currency and product.  Although much of Western art could be made anywhere, El Anatsui’s work shows concrete evidence of his homeland and the beauty and trash it evokes.  He transforms what once was part of an ugly past into an intricate captivating tapestry.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/images/el-anatsui/sacred-moon-2007

-Ashley