HANOVER, N.H.- The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College will host El Anatsui: GAWU, an exhibition of outstanding metal “tapestries” and other sculptures by one of Africa’s most powerful contemporary artists, through March 4, 2007. El Anatsui uses found objects to celebrate Africa’s rich artistic and cultural heritage. This exhibition spotlights large-scale works created from found objects, including the spectacular metal cloth Hovo,r which the Hood Museum of Art recently acquired, and two recently completed works that will be exhibited for the first time. The works in this exhibition reference diverse relationships of trade, materiality, tradition, and modernity between West Africa, Europe, and the Americas, the human histories of materials that surround us, and the African continent’s broader concerns about the adverse affects of globalization, consumerism, and waste. Organized by the Oriel Mostyn Gallery in New South Wales, this is El Anatsui’s first solo exhibition to travel the United States.

The presentation of this Oriel Mostyn Gallery touring exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, is generously funded by the George O. Southwick 1957 Memorial Fund and the Hansen Family Fund.

Catalogue - A full-color, 48-page publication, with contributions from Gerard Houghton, Atta Kwami, and Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, accompanies this exhibition. The catalogue has been shortlisted for the 2004 Art Newspaper & AXA Art Exhibition Catalogue Award and is available through the Hood Museum of Art Shop.