Calixte Dakpogan specialises in creating figures and masks from plastic, iron, glass, copper, wood, and whatever else he can find. This 2002 piece is named La mort debout – Resuscitated.
(Image: CAAC Art)
La Bouche du Roi, by Romuald Hazoumé, is laid out to resemble a now-famous print of the British slave ship Brookes.
(Image: Art Focus)
• Think Africa Press
African artists have been recycling and re-using materials for hundreds of years. In Benin, a vast number of imported copper pans were recycled to cast various objects such as the Benin bronzes, while in Ghana the unravelling of imported foreign silks were used to increase the availability of thread colours for Kente cloth.
Artists have long interrogated the significance of using different materials in art and for many the material chosen holds a crucial conceptual importance.
Understanding this symbolic significance of a material requires an understanding of the context and environment in which the artist is working.
Transformation through re-use, not recycling
One artist with a love of raw materials is Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui. His work includes the re-use of woods and metals, which he gathers himself and transforms into sculptures.
Working with whatever his environment throws up, Anatsui frequently makes use of discarded liquor tops. The liquor tops are cut up, flattened, arranged in a sequence and joined together with copper wire to create large cloth-like sculptures. The once rigid metals become flowing rhythmic representations of Ghanaian cloth, which portray particular Ghanaian symbols and representational values.
There are good reasons for Anatsui’s choice of used liquor tops. The bottle tops’ malleability allows the artist to puncture holes through them, a quality unobtainable with discarded soda bottle tops.
Furthermore, they refer to the historic ties of the alcohol trade between West Africa, Europe and America; to the pleasure of drinking or “building the stomach”, a common cultural turn of phrase; and they reflect the consumptive nature of society as a whole.
El Anatsui does not recycle these bottle tops, but transforms them. And the connotations they carry become a part of the work itself – a commentary on his society, cultural history and environment.
Material choice representing heritage
Calixte Dakpogan of Benin is another artist who uses discarded materials. Dakpogan’s skilful manipulation of materials goes back to the time of an ancestor, who was a blacksmith at the 19th-century royal court of King Toffa, and the tradition has been passed down from father to son ever since.
Dakpogan benefits from a seemingly inexhaustible abundance of car wrecks in his home town of Porto Novo, and other abandoned bits and pieces to make sculptural figures and masks.
This allows him a great deal of symbolism on which to draw. The automobile is often seen as a symbol of power under the protection of Ogun – the Yoruba god of metal work – and Dakpogan’s sculptures also relate to the Fon statues from the early 19th century.
Through his choice to use and transform these materials into relatable sculptural forms, Dakpogan’s artworks intentionally play with associations to his heritage and culture.
In working with recovered materials, Dakpogan bestows a level of energy upon his sculptures which would be unobtainable if the artist used new materials. Whilst it is clear that the materials’ easy availability plays a role in their use, there is no doubt that Dakpogan’s choice of materials is based on aesthetics and artistic vision rather than necessity.
Objects as metaphors
Romuald Hazoumé in Benin takes a slightly different approach in his used of discarded objects. He does not transform his objects per se, but re-uses them. An object used repetitively in his work is the petrol can, which implicitly draws reference to the black market petrol trade and its deeper social significance.
With cheaper petrol prices in neighbouring Nigeria – until recently – the black market saw petrol flow easily, if illegally, across the border. The cans carried by black market transporters are worked to breaking point then discarded, something in which Hazoumé sees similarities with enslavement.
He says, “Many people live in the same kind of conditions, bound to work their whole lives for rich bosses who use them without regard for their humanity, and who then throw them away, like refuse”.
Hazoumé’s representation of slavery is most notable in the multimedia installation La Bouche du Roi (the mouth of the king) in which he uses dozens of petrol containers laid out to resemble an 18th century print of the British slave ship Brookes – this now notorious image was used by campaigners, led by William Wilberforce, against the transatlantic slave trade.
The individual containers represent the people of Africa who were crammed together in the slave trade. The piece refers to the exportation of oil to the West with little in return, juxtaposing the historical image with that of the implement used to transport petrol. The used petrol cans act as a metaphor for slavery past and present.
El Anatsui, Calixte Dakpogan and Romuald Hazoumé are just three examples of African artists with the ingenuity, creativity and contemplation to turn what others discard or see as junk into works of art. And, in doing so, creating dialogue about social, historical, and political realities.
A material or use of material simply does not hold one value, connotation or significance; instead, any material holds a different value and characteristic depending on the context in which it is used. This is nowhere clearer than in African artists’ re-use of everyday bits and pieces.
Calixte Dakpogan ni mtaalamu wa kutengeneza sanamu na vinyago kutoka kwa plastiki, chuma, kioo, shaba, mbao, na chochote kingine anachoweza kupata. "Kipande hiki cha 2002 kinaitwa ""La mort debout"" au ""Kujirudisha.""" "Kichapo cha ""La Bouche du Roi"" cha Romuald Hazoumé kinaonyesha picha ya meli ya watumwa ya Uingereza iliyokuwa ikisafirishwa na watu wengi." "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya ""Mafunzo ya Afrika"" ya Think Africa Press, ""waandishi wa habari wa Afrika wamekuwa wakirudisha na kutumia vifaa kwa mamia ya miaka." Katika Benin, idadi kubwa ya sufuria za shaba zilizopelekwa nje zilitumiwa tena kutengeneza vitu mbalimbali kama vile shaba za Benin, wakati Ghana ilitumia kuondolewa kwa hariri za kigeni zilizopelekwa nje ili kuongeza upatikanaji wa rangi za nyuzi za kitambaa cha Kente. Wasanii kwa muda mrefu wameuliza umuhimu wa kutumia vifaa tofauti katika sanaa na kwa wengi vifaa vilivyochaguliwa vina umuhimu muhimu wa dhana. Kuelewa umuhimu huu wa mfano wa nyenzo inahitaji uelewa wa muktadha na mazingira ambayo msanii anafanya kazi. Mabadiliko kupitia matumizi ya tena, si kuchakata Msanii mmoja mwenye upendo wa vifaa vya mbichi ni mchongaji wa Ghana El Anatsui. Kazi yake inajumuisha matumizi ya mbao na metali, ambayo yeye mwenyewe hukusanya na kugeuza kuwa sanamu. Anatsui hutumia mara nyingi vipande vya pombe vilivyotupwa ili kufanya kazi na vitu vyote vinavyomzunguka. Vipande vya pombe vinakatwa, vinapigwa, vinapangwa kwa mfululizo na kuunganishwa pamoja kwa waya wa shaba ili kutengeneza sanamu kubwa zinazofanana na nguo. Chuma kilichokuwa kigumu wakati mmoja kinakuwa uwakilishi wa mtiririko wa kitambaa cha Ghana, ambacho huonyesha alama maalum za Ghana na maadili ya uwakilishi. Kuna sababu nzuri kwa ajili ya uchaguzi wa Anatsui wa tops pombe kutumika. Uwezo wa kuyeyusha vifuniko vya chupa unamruhusu msanii kuchimba mashimo ndani yake, ubora ambao hauwezi kupatikana na vifuniko vya chupa za soda zilizotupwa. Zaidi ya hayo, zinarejelea uhusiano wa kihistoria wa biashara ya pombe kati ya Afrika Magharibi, Ulaya na Amerika; kwa furaha ya kunywa au <unk> kujenga tumbo <unk>, mabadiliko ya kawaida ya utamaduni wa maneno; na zinaonyesha asili ya matumizi ya jamii kwa ujumla. El Anatsui hairudishi vifuniko hivi vya chupa, bali hubadilisha. Na maana wanayozalisha huwa sehemu ya kazi yenyewe - ufafanuzi juu ya jamii yake, historia ya kitamaduni na mazingira. Uchaguzi wa vifaa vinavyowakilisha urithi Calixte Dakpogan wa Benin ni msanii mwingine ambaye hutumia vifaa vilivyotupwa. Ujuzi wa Dakpogan wa kutumia vifaa vya ujenzi ulianza wakati wa baba yake, aliyekuwa fundi wa chuma katika makao ya mfalme Toffa katika karne ya 19, na utamaduni huo umepitishwa kutoka baba hadi mwana. Dakpogan anatumia vitu vingi vya magari yaliyoharibiwa katika mji wake wa Porto Novo, na vitu vingine vilivyotupwa, kutengeneza sanamu na vinyago. Hilo humwezesha kutumia alama nyingi sana. Gari ni ishara ya nguvu chini ya ulinzi wa Ogun, mungu wa Yoruba wa kazi ya chuma, na sanamu za Dakpogan pia zinahusiana na sanamu za Fon kutoka karne ya 19. Kupitia uchaguzi wake wa kutumia na kubadilisha vifaa hivi katika aina za sanamu zinazohusiana, kazi za sanaa za Dakpogan kwa makusudi hucheza na ushirika na urithi na utamaduni wake. Katika kufanya kazi na vifaa vilivyopatikana, Dakpogan hutoa kiwango cha nishati kwenye sanamu zake ambazo hazingeweza kupatikana ikiwa msanii alitumia vifaa vipya. Ingawa ni wazi kwamba vifaa vya upatikanaji rahisi ina jukumu katika matumizi yao, hakuna shaka kwamba Dakpogan uchaguzi wa vifaa ni msingi wa aesthetics na maono ya kisanii badala ya uhitaji. Vitu kama mifano Romuald Hazoumé katika Benin inachukua mbinu tofauti kidogo katika matumizi yake ya vitu vilivyotupwa. Yeye haibadilishi vitu vyake vyenyewe, bali huzitumia tena. Kitu kinachotumiwa mara kwa mara katika kazi yake ni chupa ya petroli, ambayo kwa njia isiyo wazi inarejelea biashara ya soko nyeusi la petroli na umuhimu wake wa kina wa kijamii. Kwa bei ya chini ya petroli katika jirani Nigeria - hadi hivi karibuni - soko nyeusi liliona petroli ikitiririka kwa urahisi, ikiwa ni kinyume cha sheria, kuvuka mpaka. Makopo hayo yanatumiwa na wauzaji wa soko nyeusi na kisha kutupwa, jambo ambalo Hazoumé anaona linafanana na utumwa. "Anasema, ""Watu wengi wanaishi katika hali kama hizo, wakilazimika kufanya kazi maisha yao yote kwa wakuu matajiri ambao wanawatumia bila kujali ubinadamu wao, na ambao kisha wanawatupa mbali, kama taka.""" Hazoumé aliigiza utumwa katika picha yake ya La Bouche du Roi, ambayo ilifanana na picha ya meli ya watumwa ya Uingereza ya Brookes, iliyotengenezwa katika karne ya 18 na iliyochorwa na William Wilberforce. Vyombo hivyo vinawakilisha watu wa Afrika waliokusanywa pamoja katika biashara ya watumwa. Mchoro huo unarejelea usafirishaji wa mafuta kwenda Magharibi bila malipo mengi, ukilinganisha picha ya kihistoria na ile ya chombo kilichotumiwa kusafirisha petroli. Makopo ya petroli yaliyotumiwa hutumika kama mfano wa utumwa wa zamani na wa sasa. El Natsui, Calixto Dakpogan na Romuald Hazoumé ni mifano mitatu tu ya wasanii wa Afrika wenye ubunifu, ubunifu na kutafakari kugeuza kile wengine wanachokataa au kuona kama taka kuwa kazi za sanaa. Na, kwa kufanya hivyo, kuunda mazungumzo kuhusu hali halisi za kijamii, kihistoria, na kisiasa. Vifaa au matumizi ya vifaa havina thamani moja, maana au umuhimu; badala yake, vifaa vyovyote vina thamani tofauti na sifa kulingana na muktadha ambao vinatumiwa. Hii haijulikani wazi zaidi kuliko katika wasanii wa Afrika kutumia tena vipande vya kila siku.