For the first time in over 20 years, Nigerian-British artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA opens a solo exhibition in a London public institution. The exhibition, titled Suspended States, opened on April 12 and will run till September 1, 2024, at Serpentine South in London's Kensington Gardens.
Exploring multiple themes such as the legacies of colonial power, the ecological impact of colonization, the European legacy of imperialism, and consequential attempts at peace, "Suspended States" features some of the most recent installations, sculptures, pictorial quilts, and woodcut prints from Shonibare; as well as his works never seen before in public.
"My work has always been about the crossing of boundaries—geographically, visually, historically, and conceptually. 'Suspended States' is an exhibition that addresses the suspension of boundaries, whether psychological, physical, or geographical—all boundaries of nationhood are in a state of suspense," says Shonibare.
Meanwhile, this isn't the first time the veteran artist is exhibiting at Serpentine South. In 1992, he presented at the gallery as a finalist in the Barclays Young Artist Award. Concurrently, Serpentine also featured him in its 2006 Interview Marathon.
As Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine, put it, "The first institutional exhibition of Yinka Shonibare CBE was held here at Serpentine 32 years ago, and it is a special honour to welcome the artist back to the galleries." The exhibition stands as an interrelational communism between Shonibare's multidisciplinary artistic expression as a storyteller and Serpentine's mission of building new connections between artists and society. “Suspended States continues in Shonibare's career-long interrogation of colonial histories and the legacies of public art—a line of questioning we could not be prouder to share with audiences in London for the first time in decades," Obrist added.
Shonibare envisions the exhibition as a timely one when "Western iconography is reimagined and interrogated, at a moment in history when nationalism, protectionism, and hostility towards foreigners are on the rise." The Royal Academician, who is also a 2004 Turner Prize nominee, has exhibited globally in various prestigious art institutions with numerous accolades to his name. He is one of eight frontrunners exhibiting in the "Nigerian Imaginary" national pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia from April 20 to November 24, 2024. The artist will also be featured as one of the artists exhibiting at the main Venice Biennale exhibition "Foreigners Everywhere," curated by Adriano Pedrosa at the Arsenale.
For more information, visit Serpentine Galleries.
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