Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch.Yinka Shonibare Yinka Shonibare MBE (born 1962) is a contemporary artist living in Britain. Biography Yinka Shonibare MBE was born in London to Nigerian parents. At the age of three they moved to Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria, where he grew up. Double Dutch double dutch also double Dutch n. A game of jump rope in which players jump over two ropes swung in a crisscross formation by two turners. Edited by Jaap Guldemond and Gabriele Mackert, with Barbera van Kooij Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2004. 160 pp., 75 color and 25 b/w photos, biography, bibliography. $39.95 softcover. In just over a decade of artistic practice, Yinka Shonibare has captured and retained the attention of the contemporary Western art scene with his eye-catching headless mannequins and engaging photo narratives. This London-based artist of Yoruba heritage addresses contemporary issues of globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation and the colonial past with a light-heartedness that has won him universal appeal. Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch contains the most comprehensive look at the artist's work to date. Lavishly illustrated with works spanning Shonibare's career (1994-2004), the colorful exhibit catalogue effectively reproduces the experience of coming face to face with Shonibare's whimsical and vibrant works. Punctuated by a diverse assortment of scholarly articles, the catalogue is a treat for the intellect as well as the eye. The collection of seven articles six essays and one interview--use an assortment of scholarly approaches to explicate elements in Shonibare's works. The contributors, who focus on the impact of sociohistorical elements, possess a wide range of expertise relevant to understanding Shonibare's complex artistry. As a whole, the articles provide insight into the dominant cultures that are incorporated in Shonibare's works: traditional Nigerian, modern Western, and Victorian. While each article expands on the debate about categorizing Shonibare, the compilation provides a compelling synthesis of his diasporic identity. Hugo Bongers and Gerald Matt introduce the catalogue by describing Shonibare as "an example of the increasing hybridization hybridization /hy·brid·iza·tion/ (hi?brid-i-za´shun) 1. crossbreeding; the act or process of producing hybrids. 2. molecular hybridization 3. of the once unequivocal cultural or national definitions that has fundamentally altered the style of associating and dealing with culture in these cosmopolitan times" (p. 8). The exhibit and accompanying catalogue are not meant to be a retrospective, but instead focus on works chosen according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the principal themes of Shonibare's career. Though not explicitly identified by Bongers and Matt, the principal themes discussed include an exploration of colonialism and globalization, particularly the historical and contemporary relationship between Britain and Nigeria, and a preoccupation with the Victorian aristocracy. Illustrations, therefore, focus on Shonibare's Afro-Victorian mannequins, decapitated de·cap·i·tate tr.v. de·cap·i·tat·ed, de·cap·i·tat·ing, de·cap·i·tates To cut off the head of; behead. [Late Latin d and dressed in sumptuous costumes fashioned from Dutch Wax print fabric, and photographs featuring Shonibare in the role of an African dandy. Manthia Diawara's essay analyzes Shonibare's textile works, exploring the political and "Africanizing" effects of his use of Dutch Wax prints. Diawara examines Shonibare's works as a combination of historical and contemporary signifiers, postcolonial references to the colonial past of Afro-European relationships, embodied in cloth. This "transtextuality," Diawara asserts, allows Shonibare to explore and challenge stereotypes, implying a multipilicity of identity. Rather than adding to the glut of interviews focused on Shonibare's connection to Africa, Jaap Guldemond and Gabriele Mackert, editors of the catalogue and concept designers of the exhibit, question Shonibare on the European influences in his art. The inclusion of this interview adds greatly to the existing literature on Shonibare by looking at that which is not "African" about an artist who has been quoted as saying "I don't give a toss about Africa." In this conversation, Shonibare discusses his work in relation to feminist and minimalist traditions in contemporary art and outlines his investigations into the Victorian era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Although commonly used to refer to the period of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901, scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as . Shonibare also explains the importance of the seductive quality of his works and his use of strategic fragmentation. Expanding on his extensive publications on Shonibare's use of textiles, John Picton con tributes an article that, for the first time, explores the iconography of the fabrics employed. This contribution is significant in furthering the visual analysis of Shonibare's exploitation of textiles. Reading the textiles themselves, Picton analyzes the relationship between the prints and their meaning and historical use in Yoruba culture. He reveals the messages coded within the "African" textiles, proposing an added discourse he asserts is visible to Africans but hidden from the average European viewer. In a previously published article, Angela McRobbie discusses Shonibare's 1998 photographic narrative Diary of a Victorian Dandy. This short article examines the theoretical implications of Shonibare's insertion of his own body into genre scenes referencing the Victorian aristocracy, focusing on the compelling dialogue between the historical and the contemporary. McRobbie's interpretation explains not only Shonibare's appropriation of the historical Victorian world but addresses the tools by which Shonibare rewrites history in a distinctly postcolonial viewpoint. Peter Bailey's contribution to the catalogue outlines the pastimes of the Victorian aristocracy, a necessary inclusion for a complete understanding of Shonibare's works, which are frequently in direct dialogue with the Victorian era. Bailey, a specialist in modern British social and cultural history, does not address Shonibare's work directly, but his essay serves to illuminate the narrative of the exhibit. Onyema Offoedu-Okeke explores the effect of Nigerian political history on Shonibare's work. Arguing effectively that "Shonibare's African identity is clearly the main instigator in·sti·gate tr.v. in·sti·gat·ed, in·sti·gat·ing, in·sti·gates 1. To urge on; goad. 2. To stir up; foment. [Latin of a debate marked by a foreign intrusion into the otherwise regulated procedures of English art English art is the body of visual arts originating from the nation of England, in the form of a continuous tradition. Following historical surveys such as Creative Art In England ," Offoedu-Okeke analyzes the intellectual struggle of the Nigerian educated elite in balancing the "traditional" and the "modern" rather than citing specific works by Shonibare that reflect this intellectual relationship to Shonibare's Nigerian heritage (p. 108). In explaining what he describes as a "genetically Nigerian" phenomenon, Offoedu-Okeke successfully links Shonibare with fellow Nigerian diasporic artists, implying that this theme pervades the work of all modern artists of Nigerian origin, including Uzo Egonu, Sokari Douglas Camp Sokari Douglas Camp (born 1958 in Nigeria) is an artist who has had exhibitions all over the world and was the receipient of awarded the Henry Moore Bursary award. She is the daughter of Kalabaris, an ethnic group living in the Niger Delta. , and Chris Ofili Chris Ofili (born 1968) is an English born painter noted for artworks referencing aspects of his Nigerian heritage. He is one of the Young British Artists. He is a Turner Prize winner and his work has been a source of controversy. , but fails to examine the effects of their geographical dislocation from Nigeria on their art. The final essay, by Achille Mbembe Achille Mbembe was born in Cameroon in 1957. He obtained his Ph. D. in History at the University of Sorbonne in Paris, France, in 1989. He subsequently obtained a D.E.A. in Political Science at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in the same city. , constitutes a theoretical discussion of Africa, a "geographical accident" that has developed into an essential signifier sig·ni·fi·er n. 1. One that signifies. 2. Linguistics A linguistic unit or pattern, such as a succession of speech sounds, written symbols, or gestures, that conveys meaning; a linguistic sign. , and African identity, polarized A one-way direction of a signal or the molecules within a material pointing in one direction. into the two discourses of "nativism nativism, in anthropology, social movement that proclaims the return to power of the natives of a colonized area and the resurgence of native culture, along with the decline of the colonizers. and Afro-radicalism" (p. 122). Mbembe essentially summarizes Shonibare's conceptual framework For the concept in aesthetics and art criticism, see . A conceptual framework is used in research to outline possible courses of action or to present a preferred approach to a system analysis project. , identifying and discussing the multiple histories of international relations international relations, study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. Particular areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, affecting contemporary Africans. This elegantly compiled publication is filled with full-page reproductions of many of Shonibare's most famous works. A biography chronicles Shonibare's artistic career, including schooling, solo shows, group exhibitions, and awards and residencies, and a brief bibliography of related publications concludes the catalogue. Though the articles and images are not interdependent, the catalogue combines a wide range of excellent sources and illustrations that function well independently. |
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