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.

Quotes

• City bank clients have come in and said 'I want to buy this, this and this'. Or somewhere like the British Museum wants to buy this or that, and you think - wow!
  • Egon Cossou, African contemporary art enjoying a surge in interest, BBC, 13 October 2022.
• The aesthetic qualities my pieces have are definitely foreign from other western ideas. It takes a long time for the West to accept that other people have ideas, or have worthy cultures and traditions.
  • Egon Cossou, African contemporary art enjoying a surge in interest, BBC, 13 October 2022.
• I was not good at painting so I thought I should try sculpture, as I liked putting my hand in my work. It is totally natural for me to make the work myself.
  • Karen Wright, Sokari Douglas Camp, sculptor: 'I was not good at painting so I tried sculpture, as I liked putting my hand in my work', Independent, 16 April 2015.
• I have a dream that the Niger Delta will be cured even though it is dying of oil pollution.
  • Karen Wright, Sokari Douglas Camp, sculptor: 'I was not good at painting so I tried sculpture, as I liked putting my hand in my work', Independent, 16 April 2015.
• When you meet Nigerians they are incredible. Their energy is incredible.
  • Karen Wright, Sokari Douglas Camp, sculptor: 'I was not good at painting so I tried sculpture, as I liked putting my hand in my work', Independent, 16 April 2015.
• In the first phase when I started art school, I started with paint, I was very excited about it, and I truly thought that I would be a painter, but what happened is that I didn’t really love any of my paintings! Today, I’m still highly fascinated by the idea of painting, but luckily I soon discovered that it was easier to express myself through sculpture to put my hands in something. It’s just that the two-dimensional approach wasn’t for me.
  • Art expresses things that cannot be put in words – Sokari Douglas, Daily Trust, 24 October 2021.
• I think we have become even more unequal. One time you could have a conversation about putting it right, but sadly today, a lot of it has still to do with money then since.
  • Art expresses things that cannot be put in words – Sokari Douglas, Daily Trust, 24 October 2021.
• It’s very hard to describe what you feel and what you see. When you try to couple it together and make a presentation, you attempt to catch something – and it’s kind of ironic -, you try to make something meaningful, but there can be flows. However, even when you are making an effort is important to have an open approach.
  • Art expresses things that cannot be put in words – Sokari Douglas, Daily Trust, 24 October 2021.
• Art simply expresses things that cannot be put in words, it’s a conversation for your eyes, and it makes you look at things differently. That’s just wonderful!
  • Art expresses things that cannot be put in words – Sokari Douglas, Daily Trust, 24 October 2021.

Quotes about Sokari

• I believe that where the name Louise Bourgeois is known, the name Sokari Douglas Camp should also be known. Not only do both artists work in steel, but they have both made profound artistic contributions in the medium. Douglas Camp’s technique is unique. She does not cast her sculptures. She welds, cuts and bends sheet steel, wielding a blow torch as skilfully as other sculptors have wielded an adze.
  • Chibundu Onuzo as stated in 'Where the name Louise Bourgeois is known, the name Sokari Douglas Camp should also be known', The Art Newspaper, 13 October 2023.