The Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh is staging the most significant exploration staged in the UK of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui’s practice, spanning five decades of work, and extending to the building’s facade. The exhibition comprises a large selection of Anatsui’s large scale sculptural wall hangings made with reclaimed bottle tops, including the ‘grandmother’ of these forms, 'Woman’s Cloth' (2002), on loan from the British Museum, and a sleeping chamber in which to quietly observe 'Royal Slumber' (2023). A monumental new work had been made specifically for Talbot Rice Gallery, recalling the Scottish Mission Book Depot in Keta which provided the artist’s books and crayons as a child. There is also a selection of carved wooden reliefs made over a 30-year period and printed works on paper which tell the story of the intricate, decades-long creation of his monumental artworks. Outside, the grass Quad of the Old College will be reframed as a gallery with the installation of the huge work, 'TSIATSIA – Searching for Connection' (2013).
