Yinka Shonibare
Photo: James Mollison. Courtesy James Cohan, New York.
Here are some facts about Yinka Shonibare:
Shonibare is British and Nigerian (born in London, moved to Lagos, Nigeria at age three, returned to London for college and graduate school)
Shonibare remixes and references Western art history and literature
Shonibare’s work highlights questions about class, race, and the construction of cultural identity
Here is some interesting background info that will give context to Yinka Shonibare’s work:
The clothing in his sculptures is made from African wax prints. Though these fabrics are now associated with African culture, they were actually originally created in England and Holland, and sold to people in Africa. These fabrics became an integral part of African culture.
Shonibare found that duality of cultural identity of the African wax print fabrics interesting. He says “But actually, the fabrics are not really authentically African the way people think. They prove to have a crossbred cultural background quite of their own. And it’s the fallacy of that signification that I like. It’s the way I view culture—it’s an artificial construct.”
The original painting, The Swing, became an example of frivolity and wealth. Less than 30 years after it was painted, the French Revolution began, and many members of the French Aristocracy lost their heads at the guillotine.
Here are some of Yinka Shonibare’s artworks next to the original image that he remixed:
left: Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767; right: Yinka Shonibare, The Swing (after Fragonard), 2001left: Thomas Gainsborough, Mr and Mrs Andrews, 1750, right: Yinka Shonibare, Mr.and Mrs. Andrews without their Heads, 1998
sotamedialab 