Windsculpture VI

“Windsculpture VI” is a sculpture by the acclaimed British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Born in London in 1962, he grew up in Nigeria and returned to England at the age of 17 to study. Soon after he started at Wimbledon School of Arts, he was struck by a rare infection that left him permanently paralysed on one side. Nowadays he is assisted in his work by assistants.

When Shonibare entered the London art world in the early 1980s, he became aware of the contradictions between his Nigerian background, his British upper-class upbringing and his hip city life. Cultural identity and post-colonialism became his regular themes.

In all his work, Shonibare uses brightly coloured batik fabrics that, remarkably, are made by a Dutch textile factory: Vlisco in Helmond. The Dutch Wax fabrics were made for the Indonesian market, but were not a success there. However, the fabrics became popular in West Africa where they even became a sign of African pride and independence. For Shonibare, the trade route taken by the fabric symbolises colonialism, migration and African identity. The exuberant colours of the fabric and the humour in his work help address social issues in a light-hearted manner.

Shonibare got the idea for the Wind Sculptures – he has made more of them – while working on a series with historical ships as a theme. For this he investigated how he could capture the wind in the sails. With Windsculpture VI he makes the invisible visible: we cannot see the wind, but we can see its effect. The sculpture is a gigantic piece of fabric in three-dimensional fibreglass, frozen in the moment.