Intro to Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare was born in London in 1962. During his early childhood, his family moved to Nigeria. Shonibare moved back to London to attend University on his own. During this time Shonibare contracted a virus that left him partially paralyzed. As a result, he does not physically create his work. He manages assistants to construct his visions. The assistants have an important role in Shonibare’s work, they have the opportunity to collaborate or adapt the artists’ ideas under his management. Shonibare received his MFA at Goldsmith’s University in London in 1991. Afterwards, he worked at an organization that develops opportunities for disabled artists.  There Yinka ran workshops in singing, dancing, or visual arts.

            Shonibare discusses his disability in his work in terms of internal conflict, mortality and the difficulty of living in his own body. The difficulties Shonibare faces are vain and physical in nature. Shonibare’s paralysis also ensured he had a more intellectual young adulthood. Being confined to a wheelchair after his illness, he spent a good deal of time thinking.

Yinka Shonibare’s work is influenced by his British-Nigerian heritage. His work often deals with colonialism, as well as race.  The relationship between Africa and Europe has been dominated by the colonization that once took place. This situation results in cultural melding of a unique type.  Shonibare’s figures often have no head. He leaves the defining characteristics out to keep race undefined. Also, this headlessness is sometimes a reference to the French being guillotined. Descended from a Nigerian chief, Shonibare is obsessed with themes of class. He uses aristocratic imagery often in his work. Other themes of greed and excess are derived from this obsession with aristocracy.

            Shonibare uses textiles, photography, and sculpture to create his messages. Patterned textiles full of color are used often in his work. These fabrics are intended to look African, however, they are of European manufacture. The layers of meaning associated with these fabrics intrigues Shonibare. He likes to work with the idea of things ‘not being what they seem’. Shonibare uses these cross cultural products often. He also samples from western literature.

 Shonibare is exploring film and performance in his later career.  His film, “Transformation” uses the western ballet, Swan Lake, to set the context for a story in which he transforms the two opposite characters into one person, joining together the polarities.  Shonibare sees film as a natural evolution of his art. The composition and costumes are now becoming props in a larger story.

            Currently, Shonibare’s exhibit POP! Is at the Stephan Friedman Gallery in the UK. The main piece is a tableau depicting a scene referencing something like a merry company painting.  The many figures are dressed in period costumes created from the colorful and patterned batik fabric Shonibare often uses. The scene is getting wild, the feasters are forgetting the food on the table and become more interested in each other sexually. Elsewhere in the exhibit are five smaller figures representing children holding champagne bottles. These kids are also rambunctious, hanging from chairs bolted to the wall or falling. This tableau is about decadence, excess, and the resulting unsupervised products.