How are Africans seen by the rest of the world? Often as victims of tragedy, requiring our pity and charity, as I discovered when I showed a class of students a photo of the respected Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. The picture — in the catalog for his exhibition now on at the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama — shows the artist in a short-sleeved shirt with his hands quite out of sight behind his back. Flippantly, I told my students that he had no arms. Despite the obvious absurdity of my statement, the whole class readily believed this and were even surprised when, moments later, I revealed the truth.
My students are not to be blamed. They have been bombarded with images of famine, war and disease in Africa, and endless reports of brutal murders, rapes and mutilations. The idea of an armless African artist must have seemed all too plausible.
However, if you visit the exhibition "A Fateful Journey: Africa in the Works of El Anatsui" expecting to patronize Africa with pity, you will be surprised. Anatsui cuts anything but a pathetic figure.