For this tapestry El Anatsui has used woven red liquor labels, with other creations he has used bottle caps and other types of commercial packaging. The labels are embedded with histories and influences, ranging from the effect of the colonial period on African countries to current problems facing their peoples. Apparently every institution which displays ‘Red Block’ can fold and hang it as the curator chooses. I wish now I had spent time looking more closely at the labels.
You have until 31st July to square. The theme is ‘‘Simply Red‘ and as always the only rule for Squares is that your main photograph must be square.
The life of B 
Neat! And here’s mine for today:https://suejudd.com/2025/07/25/red-poppy-windblown/
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glad you like
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😊
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Very creative, and you could probably have spent hours looking at all the component labels.
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I would have if I had realised at the time!
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This is quite wonderful, Becky. Thanks for the introduction to this artist.
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so glad you like
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How fascinating. I’ll bet a lot of the allusions to be drawn from it are about Africa’s colonial past. So as it’s Friday, and India for me, our posts have that in common. Not that I mention colonialism today: https://margaret21.com/2025/07/25/indian-friday-couchsurfing/
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that’s what I was thinking, just wish I’d taken more notice at the time
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It’s annoying when you realise you’ve missed the boat a bit and can’t do anything about it.
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just didn’t even occur to me to look more closely at the time as it was at the top of a stairwell. Hey ho!
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Can’t win ’em all. Why aren’t you comatose in bed at the moment?
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hee hee – I am made of sterner stuff! The poor parents however do look as though they are about to collapse as they have both caught the cold. They’ll be heading off to bed shortly me thinks
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😒
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Wow, that is fascinating, Becky 👏 Here’s mine: https://jezbraithwaite.blog/2025/07/25/a-splash-of-red-simply-red/
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so interesting, just wish I had taken more time to look at it at the time!
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Looks very intricate.
Here are some reds: https://wanderingteresa.com/back-in-cloudehill-gardens/
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quite amazing
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It makes you want to get in there and investigate, doesn’t it? Until you explained I had no idea xx
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I wish I had properly investigated properly at the time
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I often think that! Did I even see what I was looking at? xx
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so glad not just me!
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Very interesting, I’d never heard of that before.
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yes I am going to be looking out for his work now
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What a time consuming project! Interesting!
https://mariawijk.wordpress.com/2025/07/25/the-first-red-tomato/
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yes, must take so long. Amazing
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It must have taken many hours to create this interesting piece.
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I wouldn’t have the patience!
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