Born in Anyako, Ghana 1944. Lives and works between Ghana and Nigeria. An alumnus of the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, El Anatsui has made a major contribution to contemporary art. Throughout a distinguished forty-year career as both sculptor and teacher – he was Professor of Sculpture and Departmental Head at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka – El Anatsui has addressed a vast range of social, political and historical concerns, and embraced an equally diverse range of media and processes. On this regard, the artist stated: “When I create work…it is in my view a metaphor reflecting an alternative response to examine possibilities and extend the boundaries in art…my work can represent links in the evolving narrative of memory and identity”. His sculptures have been collected by major international museums, from the British Museum of London to the Centre Pompidou in Paris; the de Young Museum, San Francisco; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi; Osaka Foundation of Culture, Osaka; Museum of Modern Art, New York and many other prestigious institutions besides. In 2014, he was made an Honorary Royal Academician as well as elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2015 he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 56th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia and in 2017 he was honored with the Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture by the Japan Art Association. octobergallery.co.uk Photo by Jonathan Greet. Image courtesy of the artist and October Gallery.