Contribution short abstract:

The essay discusses how Ghanaian artist Anatsui revitalizes his maritime heritage, drawing splendor from nature and liberating it from colonialism's aftermath. It enables a new theoretical structure to examine the global south contemporary art that addresses circumstances of deprivation.

Contribution long abstract:

Rather than representing, Ghanaian artist Anatsui, born in the coastal town of Anyako, assimilated found objects as materials for his work. The richness in history and memory of his unit materials, caps, originate from their literal passing from hand to hand, from the past stages of production-consumption to taking shape in art. Confronted with a continuous stream of spectators, it seeks to awaken memories through its immense size and astonishing complexity, circumventing the traditionally Western, visually focused discourse that seeks to rediscover truths in precise visual reproductions. The artists' transportation and transformation of waste redeem the dignity and objecthood of the object, often regarded as useless or of low value.

Jugaaḍ (or "Jugaaṛ") is a colloquial word in Indo-Aryan languages. It is a flexible approach to problem-solving that innovatively uses limited resources—the honoring of ingenuity in the face of past and present adversities. In the case of Anatsui, his creative use of bottle caps directly acknowledges the alcoholic beverage commodity's role in the slave trade. Against the arrested image of a relationship that sees post-colonialist art as colonialism’s repercussions on the cultural plane, Anatsui's work poses a directness drawing splendor from the natural phenomenon, such as in Rising Sea and Wade in the Water. The essay concludes with the artist revitalizing the cultural and environmental legacy of his sea-dwelling background in an inclusive, egalitarian way.

The mindset's coincidence with other artists from the global south, such as Song Dong, liberates discussions about cultural philosophy, norms, aesthetic judgment, and value systems.