Artist 80 Sokari Douglas Camp Primavera Steel Sculpture
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE (b. 1958, Nigeria) is a Nigerian-British sculptor who is renowned for her impressive steel sculptures. Her sculptures refer to her Nigerian roots and international issues.
Her sculptures aims to create a dialogue between her Nigerian roots and familiar figures of European culture with frequent reference to her Nigerian roots, at the same time, encompassing contemporary international issues.
Inspired by Botticelli’s most recognizable painting La Primavera (1482), Douglas Camp has created a series of sculptural compositions that bring to life his two-dimensional pictures.
This project Primavera is our focus for today which focus on the reinterpretation of familiar figures from the European classical tradition.
She reinterprets these figures by dressing them in typical African fashion and thus creating new meanings through new contexts.
These intricate compositions feature figures touching and supporting each other, dressed in contemporary clothing remnant of high fashion in Nigeria modern icons of contemporary culture and society.
Her work evokes aspects of traditional Kalabari culture. Hers is an aesthetic that combines the authenticity of its cultural past wih contemporary artistic technologies.
As a modern sculptor, she creates fluid sculptures rendering her steel an almost painterly quality. It’s a harsh, demanding material and yet she skillfully moulds it. As seen in the close up photo her sculptures are heavily layered. She creates figures that almost seem like they will move.
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