Born in England in 1962 and raised in Nigeria, Yinka Shonibare currently lives and works in London, where he has gained international attention by exploring issues of race and class through a range of media that includes sculpture, painting, photography, and installation art…
The last couple of years, Yinka Shonibare has enjoyed increasing international renown with his tableaux vivants of historical figures dressed in African print. Although typically African, these fabrics have been made in factories in Helmond and Manchester. The fascinating origin of these fabrics runs from colonial history in the Dutch East Indies to the trade carried out by Dutch merchants in West Africa.