Yinka Shonibare: The Gentleman’s Protest

In the contemporary art world, in order to be recognized all artists must present a very strong image of self. In the case of artists who do not belong to the white western boys club of the art world their identity is very much defined by their gender, race, or nationality. In order to secure a place in the consciousness of the contemporary art world they are forced to play into or play with the preconceptions that are placed upon them.

Yinka Shonibare’s work is a clever play on the identity that has been afforded to him. Despite the fact that he only shortly lived in Nigeria during his childhood and was born and schooled in England, Shonibare is presented as a Nigerian artist. While at school at the Bryam Shaw School of Art, Shonibare was informed that the German-expressionist inspired work that he was creating did not truly reflect himself for it was not “African” in appearance.[1] This caused the artist to explore what are signifiers of “African-ness” which led to him discovering Dutch Wax Print fabrics at a market in London in the early 1990’s. Dutch Wax Prints are seen as a sign of African pride, yet are fabricated in Europe and originally intended for sale in Indonesia. Shonibare’s fascination with this material lies in the fact that a colonial construct exists as a symbol of African authenticity. As Shonibare said in 1998, “African fabric, exotica if you like, is a colonial construction. To the Western eye this excessive patterning carries with it codes of African nationalism…a kind of modern African exoticism.”[2]

Shonibare plays with the identity afforded to him by exploring Victorian society through creating elaborate costumes of this period out of Dutch Wax Prints and photographic stories in which he takes on roles in Victorian society no general fulfilled by a black figure such as the archetypical dandy in Diary of a Victorian Dandy and Dorian Gray.His exploration of Victorian society and African authenticity provide criticism of colonialism and racism yet do so in a seductive manner. Topics that are difficult to address and generally painful to view are made beautiful and the violence is hidden. As Shonibare says, “I am here to protest, but I am going to do it like a gentleman.”[3]

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[1] Nancy Hynes and John Picton, “Yinka Shonibare” (African Arts 34.3 Autumn 2001) 61.

[2] Olu Oguibe, The Culture Game (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004) 42.

[3] Hugo Bongers, Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch ( Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2004) 41.