Yinka Shonibare MBE who will be in conversation with Ekow Eshun
When: 19th October 2011 at 6.30pm
Where: Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard EC2A 3EA
£: 7 (5 concessions)
What is it?
Iniva’s (Institute of International Visual Arts) Significant Voices series presents Yinka Shonibare MBE in conversation with writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun. This new series by guest speakers in the cultural world generates debate and space for different thought processes.
Yinka Shonibare MBE, nominated for the Turner Prize in 2004 and responsible for Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2011, talks about the history and cultural legacy of post-colonial Britain. His work explores colonialism and post-colonialism within the context of globalisation. He examines the construction of identity and tangled interrelationships between Africa and Europe and their economic and political histories.
Shonibare works with different media; painting, sculpture, film and photography, and is best known for his figurative sculptures inspired by literature and art history, and rendered in brightly coloured ‘African’ fabrics.
“We think of these fabrics as African textiles; in fact these are Indonesian textiles produced by the Dutch for the African market. I’m interested therefore in their global nature, in the Indonesian, Dutch and indeed British connections, since they were also manufactured in Manchester.” Yinka Shonibare MBE
Shonibare, who was born in London and raised in Nigeria, began using the Dutch wax fabric in his work in the 1990s, initially mocking up entire Victorian rooms and covering chaise longues. In a series of photographs Diary of a Victorian Dandy, commissioned by Iniva in 1998, Shonibare presents himself as the frock-coat-wearing hero. Most recently, he made the sails of HMS Victory in Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle from this material. Shonibare refers to the development of trade routes and building of the British Empire; the sails become a metaphor for the global connections of contemporary people.
More info: Book online by visiting www.iniva.org.