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Yinka Shonibare Quotes
born 1962 England
Yinka Shonibare (born 9 August 1962) is a British artist whose work explores cultural identity, colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation.
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19 quotes
I hope it’s a meeting point of imagination, reconciliation and a place to foster peace.
It’s art, it’s not some kind of political propaganda.
Artists make works based on what they're seeing and what people are talking about at the time.
I don't disregard tradition, but should an English person make work about Morris dancing?
After Matisse showed Picasso African art for the first time,it changed the history of modern art.
People think that Africa was not involved in the trade, but there were quite a number of Africans who were very much involved.
In my case, it’s not actually been harmful to me, my difference.
I’m not one of these people who challenge cultural appropriation in that way, Of course, I recognise power issues. I recognise that the dominant culture can misuse something.
Do I love the establishment or do I hate the establishment? I thought I was a republican, but then I was invited to Buckingham Palace; I actually liked being there. I was fascinated by everything.
I want to change the way that history represents me. The whole thing started as a joke about the French revolution.
I was a sort of angry young man at that time. Obviously I couldn’t behead people, so I could do it to mannequins. I could dress them very nicely and then take their heads off.
I didn't understand why I was meant to produce 'authentic' African art.
I was born in London, and when I moved back to London from Nigeria I realised that, if you are a Black person, there are always questions about your identity.
It’s been very productive. It’s good to know your identity, to have your identity be physical. People have to be prepared to learn from you, and you from them. Cultural difference is about education.
When I looked deeper, I saw Picasso was genuinely fascinated by the spiritual power of these objects – it wasn’t just decoration. He went for sculptures that were frightening: half-animal, half-human.
It doesn’t matter who’s doing it.
The French were very interested in these cultures,But then there is another side: the exoticisation, the fetishisation. It’s a two-way thing, though.
And, of course, these fabrics became a sign of African empowerment and independence, and that Africans have taken on the fabrics and made the fabrics their own.
I think what came after,” says Shonibare, “became more like decoration or fashion. I don’t believe other artists were looking with the same depth.
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