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Yinka Shonibare
In the second of a series of articles focusing on the career development of well-established artists, Lucy Wilson meets Yinka Shonibare.
Yinka Shonibare's exuberant sculptural installations, paintings and photographs appropriate their form from contemporary and traditional quintessentially British imagery – a Hogarth painting or a hunting scene. He 'dresses' these forms in African print, Dutch wax cotton fabric, which, despite its name, is neither African nor Dutch but is produced in Indonesia and shipped to the UK. These contradictions and complexities constantly run through Shonibare's work, which explores issues of identity and territory through references to art history, modernity, status, and style. Shonibare graduated with an MA from Goldsmiths College in 1991, and since that time has forged links with arts organisations that have enabled him to support his creative practice and to build networks. "My first priority was to get a part-time job' I worked as an arts development officer before I was finally able to find a job that I actually loved doing. I worked for Shape, an organisation which makes the arts accessible to disabled, homeless and imprisoned people... by developing projects across the arts in day centres, schools, etc." He began exhibiting whilst still a student, in shows such as...
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