Yinka Shonibare is a British-Nigerian artist living in the United Kingdom. Shonibare works on a variety of things such as painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, and, more recently, film and performance. He has a psychical disability which has paralysed on one side of his body; however he still creates his photos and art work but by using some assistance. He has since used his disability as an advantage as in 2013, Shoibare became a patron for an annual Shape Arts “Open” exhibition where disabled and non-disabled artists are invited and allowed to submit their own work following an open theme.
He has received many awards such as a CBE which is a “Order of the British Empire” this is a British order of chivalry, which rewards contributions to arts, sciences, public service outside of the civil service and work with charitable and welfare organisations. Shonibare had his very first exhibition in 1989 in Byam Shaw Gallery, London. During 2008-09 he was part of a major mid career opportunity in both Australia and the USA. where he toured his work through Sydney and up to the Brooklyn Museum.
His work usually surrounds cultural identity, colonialism and post-colonialism. He mainly focuses on the identity between Europe and Africa; especially on economic and political histories. Yinka Shonibare is best known for his tableaux characters which are dressed in amazing period costumes from batik; which is an Indonesian designed fabric which is usually produced in the Netherlands but has been popularised in West Africa. Here he re-imagines a scene from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake in a complex and subtle interplay between two dancers of different races. Here he tries to capture each others expressions on either side of a ornate Baroque frame; showing the movements of the characters as estranged and united
(Batik examples shown below)
Examples of his work:
Analysis
Technical: Here flash lighting has been used which is shown through the reflection on the globe. The Camera has been placed at chest height and the light seems to be pointing towards the right side of the characters body shown as the left side of the characters body is receiving less light. Overall the photo seems to be well exposed and there are no signs of glares or under exposement. The Focal point seems to be on the globs/head of the character as that is the sharpest point of the image. The white balance seems to be well defined as the image doesn’t seem to be warm or cold but rather once again the image seems to have a well balance white balance.
Visual: Colour is well represented in this image which I think is important due to the photographer, here there are various colours each rich and vivid. Tone is also present in the image especially the contrast between the light white walls and the black globe as it helps to bring the attention onto the the character. Strong patterns are shown through the different styles of clothing shown all coming with different colourful patterns which are striking and interesting. The shape and form of the the image is present through the use of shadows on the character and the contrasting colours of the background which is quite light and plain against the foreground of the character which is rich and full of colour. The eye is first lead to the characters globe head as it the darkest and the focal point of the image, its then lead to its chemistry set, due to that being the main movement of the character and then onto the characters fun and colorful traditional clothing.
Contextual / Conceptual I think these characters help to bring back culture into today’s society, which I think is vital as many traditions have been lost through these years due to modernisations. The colour is definitely a key part of the image as the vivid colours represent the pride in the patterns that people that wear this have there for these characters show how diversity can be shown everywhere and even in professions; such as this scientist in colourful Indonesian clothing. I think these images also represent joy and happiness which can stand out from the crowd as many people are now dealing with many mental and physical illnesses whereas this tries to represent a happier and maybe even a fantasy in what Shonibare whats life to look like and be.