Yinka Shonibare

With Vasa in a Bottle Shonibare ties together historical and global threads traversing oceans and continents, and which – in a broader sense – mean that people all over the world share a common history. To Swedes, the Vasa man-of-war is emblematic of a historical period, a national monument and a fiasco rolled into one. The Vasa is the oldest existing ship from the 17th century, a century famous for its merchant navies sailing the seven seas, colonialism and slave trade. Yinka Shonibare’s work reminds us of how Sweden relates to the world, and how the world relates to Sweden.

The other part of the new work consists of textile-covered wall sections, titled Warm Textile Wall and Cool Textile Wall. Abstract folklore patterns printed on richly-coloured cotton fabric. “Traditional African batik” is our immediate reaction, but we are mistaken. Historically, the fabric and prints stem from Indonesia, the origin of batik, and travelled from there, via colonisation, to Holland and then on to England, where the fabric was mass-produced and exported to Africa. The textiles were then shipped back to Europe as “African”.

It is an astounding and surprising voyage that Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962) takes us on. Starting in the associations aroused by the fabric, he dresses (and strips bare) western culture. Visitors encounter creatures from outer space, haute couture outfits and life-size dolls in obscene postures dressed in 18th century crinolines. The result is both death-defying and hilarious. But the political edge is razor-sharp.

Suddenly, familiar and natural occurrences are revealed in a new light, forcing us to question what we regard as natural when it comes to ethnicity, the colonial powers and, ultimately, the strange meanderings of global trade. The tacit cultural codes of the rich world suddenly appear more clearly. The hidden seams are made visible.

Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Nigeria and Britain. He has had numerous exhibitions, especially in London, where he has also designed site-specific works for the London Underground. At Documenta in Kassel (2002) he presented an installation that attracted huge interest. He lives and works in London and is the first artist invited to create the artistic “signature” for a three-year period in the Moderna Museet entrances.