Yinka Shonibare MBE

Scramble for Africa © the artist; Photo: Stephen White

Yinka Shonibare is a Nigerian-British multi-media artist (photography, painting, sculpture, installations) uses his work as a platform to explore the issues that construct identity – globalization, colonialisation, trade, migration – raising the question of cultural authenticity. His instantly recognisable allegorical trademark has become the headless Victorian mannequin adorned in ‘African’ fabric (i.e. Dutch wax / ankara) that is made in The Netherlands and purchased in Brixton market in South London.

I think the fact that he carries the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) title, Royally bestowed upon those who have given outstanding service to the community that merits public recognition, is in itself symbolic of the irony of the past in the present given that the British Empire is redundant and the country of his birth is a former British colony.

My personal favourite was an installation in the National Gallery’s Scratch The Surface exhibition which was to commemorate the bicentenary of the parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. “Colonel Tarleton and Mrs Oswald, shooting” depicted 2 life-sized headless mannequins dressed in Georgian garments made from ‘African’ fabrics shooting a pheasant, in reference to their social status and their enrichment from the trans-atlantic slave trade. The mannequins were placed where the subjects’ portraits would be in the gallery. (More here)

Shonibare’s mid-career survey is currently at the Brooklyn Museum (until September 2009). Also Party Time: Re-imagine America at the Newark Museum (until January 2010) (hat tip Krispy who has uploaded images on Flickr)

If you’re thirsty for more Shonibare, see the recent NYT review, write up on his book Double Dutch, and his website which could do with updating.