The Desired Effect: Spotlight on Sokari Douglas Camp CBE, Metal Artist Extraordinaire

Sokari Douglas Camp by Sal Idriss

Nigerian-born Sokari Douglas Camp belongs to the first generation of African women artists to have attracted the attention of the international market. Originally from a large Kalabari town in the Niger Delta, Douglas Camp’s work is largely inspired by Kalabari culture and traditions. Employing modern sculptural techniques with the predominant use of steel, Douglas Camp creates large, semi-abstract figurative works adorned with masks and ritual clothing to depict her relationship to Nigeria despite having emigrated to London many years ago. Douglas Camp has had numerous solo and group shows all over the world, with works in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and the British Museum in London. And in 2005, she was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) . Enjoy her work, and her words, below.

BLIND LOVE AND GRACE

Materials: Steel, oil barrels, aluminum, gold, and copper leaf, acrylic paint

Dimensions: 278cm x 203cm x 135cm

Blind Love and Grace was part of the Primavera exhibition at the October Gallery in 2016.  The reinterpretation of a section of Botticelli’s painting. Created with oil barrels, cut in half then and opening up revealing Grace. A figure dressed in lace and a red shawl, looking like a West African lady but with the style of a renaissance figure.

The barrels are broken into branches that fan out to create an environment a forest and light behind the figure of Grace. She holds up her hand as if blessing or giving benediction to the viewer. Banana trees balance the stage either side of her and a fat cherub pointing his arrow in readiness to pierce someone’s heart flies above. Everything is made of steel, but they all seem light.

EUROPE SUPPORTED BY AFRICA AND AMERICA (2015)

 Materials: Steel Abalone, Gold and Copper leaf and Petrol Nozzles 

Dimensions: 200cm x 84cm x 97cm

This piece was inspired by a drawing by William Blake with the same title, I have Africanized the figures; dressing them in cloth that could come from different parts of the world, echoing; Asia a paisley motived fabric, then a Mondrian pattern that looks like sleek building blocks to represent Europe and a woven cloth with an Igbo pattern for Africa. The women have gele head ties (this fabric is produced in Switzerland). The three graces represent women in the world resting on their laurels as humankind is holding a wreath which ends with a petrol nozzle; their backdrop is mountains and they stand gracefully on a cushion of lush grass and flowers. I really enjoyed working with Blake’s sketch making sure the figures stood and touched as they do in his drawing. I think the work is international and conscious of our humanity and thecoercion in working with each other and not caring for the environment. 

GOD’S CHILDREN/GOD’S GIFT (2016)

Materials: Oil barrels, olive oil cans

Dimensions: 191cm x 211cm x 140cm

This sculpture was created for an exhibition ‘Between the Worlds’ Schloss Roskow Germany in response to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A new law supporting children all over the world is a good start to a better future.

I was attracted to the painting of God creating Adam, I love the hand gesture of this composition as so many people recognize it. Interpreting this in steel, I have decided to concentrate on god and his cloak of cherubs and people.  My sculptured god and his children are created from recycled oil barrels and olive oil cans, oil is wealth, anointed in oil, are these children good or bad? Is oil bad?  I hope viewers will adopt Adam’s iconic pose of almost touching God.