tour 2 of 9
An Africa garden
Sokari Douglas Camp, Asoebi, or Lace, Sweat and Tears, steel
Sokari Douglas Camp was born in 1958 in Buguma,
Nigeria. This is the cultural capital of the Kalabari people, who
live on twenty-three islands in the Niger Delta. She moved to
Britain as a child and attended the Central School of Art and
Design in London from 1980 to 1983. Now a world renowned sculptor
working in galvanised steel, the imagery of the Kalabari culture
remains central to her
work.
This stunning,
custom-made water sculpture was the centre-piece for the Ground
Force Africa Garden. It consists of five galvanised steel figures
of Nigerian women, each nearly 2.5 metres in height and brightly
painted in pink and green. These female figures are collectively
described by the Yoruba concept of 'Asoebi'. The
nearest English equivalent might be 'blood, sweat and
tears', suggesting the beauty, suffering and indomitable
spirit of the Kalabari
people.
Douglas Camp
regularly visits family in the Niger Delta. Here she has observed
the changes which political pressures and industrialization, in
particular the discovery of oil, have brought to their lives.
Pollution is bringing an end to some of the traditional activities
she remembers from her childhood, such as the harvesting of
mangrove roots for the oysters that cling to
them.
Despite these
changes, masquerade remains an important element of contemporary
Kalabari culture. This is reflected by a masquerade figure made by
Douglas Camp: Otobo or
hippopotamus. This powerful work is displayed in the British
Museum's Sainsbury African Galleries (Room
25).