Article relating to an exhibition, 2009
Published by: Time magazine
Year published: 2009
Number of pages: 2
Unpaginated.

Feature on Yinka Shonibare in Time magazine (USA), July 6, 2009 (Volume 173, Number 26). The “EXHIBITIONS“ piece was titled “Decaptivating“ Yinka Shonibare’s headless sculptures make a witty damning commentary on colonialism. The feature was written by Richard Lacayo and references Shonibare’s “cartwheeling midcareer retrospective, which has just opened at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City…. Three reproductions of Shonibare’s work are featured, including a large image of Scramble for Africa 2003.

The text opens as follows “Even by the standards of a globalized world, you won’t find many artists more transnational than Yinka Shonibare. He was born in the U.K. of Nigerian parents, spent his childhood shuttling between London and Lagos and, for the past decade or so, has been one of those international figures whose work turns up, often accompanied by its creator, on every continent. Four years ago, when Queen Elizabeth II made Shonibare a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), his leftish friends expected him to turn the award down. Instead, he just bolted the letters MBE to his name, but with a very broad wink. “I was always part of the empire,… he says. “Now I“ve been officially incorporated by it.… “

The feature related to a major exhibition of work by Yinka Shonibare, accompanied by a substantial monograph. The exhibition was originated by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia 24 September, 2008 until 1 February, 2009. It then toured to Brooklyn Museum, New York, 26 June - 20 September 2009, and National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 11 November - 7 March 2010. The exhibition garnered a significant amount of press coverage, in addition to the ongoing and substantial attention Shonibare received from critics, art historians and others. Related press included this piece in Time magazine, and an interview with Shonibare, (accompanied by large reproductions of the artist’s work, plus a portrait of the artist himself), in the magazine, Modern Carpets & Textiles for Interiors, London, Summer 2009.