Wind Sculpture (SG) II

2021　Glass reinforced polyester resin, acrylic paint, steel
700.0cm×250.0cｍ×200.0cｍ

Yinka Shonibare CBE

b. 1962, British-Nigerian

Shonibare employs textiles known as “African prints” to create works that compellingly subvert social structures continuously in place since the colonial era. “African prints” are printed cotton textiles, featuring vibrant colors and striking patterns, which are still commonly used to produce clothing today. Despite the name, these textiles do not originate in Africa but in the Netherlands and Britain, which manufactured printed fabrics modeled on Indonesian batik for export to their colonies, and subsequently exported them to Africa where they became part of the culture. Shonibare has focused on these textiles as embodiments of complex and diverse cultural hybridization.
Wind Sculptures is a series of large outdoor sculptures Shonibare has been producing since around 2013. They take on intricate, undulating forms, resembling fabric catching the wind like the sails of a ship. Actually making fabric stand upright is impossible, but in this sculpture he realizes a form that appears to defy gravity, and combines pliable resilience with unyielding tenacity.
The pattern in this work is based on Super Wax Print with Botanical Pattern (1993), a Japan-made “African print” in the collection of the Fukuoka Art Museum.
 Wind Sculpture (SG) II is a work that highlights the history and future of multicultural exchange across oceans, by which Japan, other Asian nations, Europe, and Africa are interconnected.