More about Sokari Douglas Camp
Works by Sokari Douglas Camp
Contributor
Badass Nigerian artist Sokari Douglas Camp does the welding herself.
Sculptor Sokari Douglas Camp was born in Nigeria and raised by her anthropologist brother-in-law. This lovely fellow shipped her off to an English boarding school at the tender age of eight. (Georgia O'Keeffe and Shepard Fairey are other notable boarding school alums). Sokari only returned for a visit once her studies were complete. I guess the timing of that trip was pretty fortuitous-- on this visit, Sokari met architect husband Alan Camp.
Camp is a self-confessed disaster at painting: “I was not good at painting so I thought I should try sculpture, as I liked putting my hand in my work.” We’re glad she made the switch, because her phenomenal larger-than-life steel figures, inspired by the difficult politics surrounding her Nigerian Kalabari roots, have set her apart as a force to be reckoned with. Even the Queen of England recognized her talent and awarded her the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005. That’s practically knighthood! We’d also like to point out that she’s one of the few black women with a portrait in London’s National Portrait Gallery.
As a woman, Sokari is not permitted to be a sculptor in her homeland of Kalabari, Nigeria. In her work, Sokari fights against both this prohibition and the connotations of her own placement within Western institutions. But Camp isn’t all hard-hitting political commentary-- in explaining why the man in Naked Big Fish is dressed in a revealing string vest, she joked, "I like black men in string vests. I love that their nipples can be caught in the string." Pretty steamy stuff, Sokari.
Contributor
Politics, religion, and fashion have rarely gone together so nicely.
As Priscilla Frank points out, if the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz had "wished for a new outfit instead of a heart, he may look something like a Camp creation."
Camp was born and raised in Nigeria's Niger Delta by an English in-law and anthropogist. If a childhood of anthro wasn't enough, Camp then went for a degree at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, birthplace of the Black Panther revolutionaries. (And neighboring city to Sartle HQ.)
The Niger Delta is a uniquely insane place where enourmous oil wealth has bred many forms of evil. Civil war, famine, guerrilla movements, and if that isn't enough, people keep blowing up the oil pipelines, so whole areas are soaked in thick black tar. Don't drink the water. If only the government and oil companies would share some of the oil wealth much of this could be avoided.
Featured Content
Here is what Wikipedia says about Sokari Douglas Camp
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE (born 1958 in Nigeria) is a London-based artist who has had exhibitions all over the world and was the recipient of a bursary from the Henry Moore Foundation. She was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours list.
Check out the full Wikipedia article about Sokari Douglas Camp
