Today's lecture was about Yinka Shonibare.
Yinka Shonibare was a British/Nigerian artist that works 2D and 3D work with sculptures, photography, painting, installations, film, and also dances. He was born in London but a few years later moved to Nigeria, then he moved back to London when he was a teenager and attended Byam Shaw art school. He is paralyzed down one side due to a condition but that didn't hold him back from continuing to do what he was passionate about.
His work reflects colonialism, race, and class and links to historical/social events. It also links to the theme of earthly delights and a little to expressionism since he uses emotion in his work. He included himself in images as the central figure where he also creates drama in his images that can look that came out of films and shows.
In 2010 he created an art piece for the "Fourth Plinth" which he was invited to, in "London's Trafalgar Square" It was called "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle" and represented the conflict at the Battle of Trafalgar.
This place was used as an exhibition space since 1999, for a lot of sculpture works. Other artists took part as well such as Antony Gormley, David Shrigley, and Marc Quinn. The art piece is currently displayed at the "Greenwich Maritime Museum".
His current work reflects "displacement" as a theme and "Climate Emergency", he risks and experiments a lot for his practice. He likes the complexity of art and also thinks about society which too reflects in his work as well as addresses serious issues.
In the last few years, he created 4 Hybrid Sculptures for an exhibition in 2020 called "Earth Kids". He looked for colonialism and took advantage of the "Earth's resources". These were sculptures of children with globes instead of heads dressed in "Batik African textiles".
He was using a "dutch or African wax cloth" that symbolises West African societies and culture, he also considers it to be a metaphor for his "multilayered identity". He didn't want to include the heads to not give attention to the race but to show metaphors.
He developed "aristocracy" in his work and the patterns created a challenge that he referred to as his voice.
He is an inspiring artist that influences and motivates a lot of people, he keeps developing and finding new ways to express himself.
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