Talk: Yinka Shonibare RA Looking at London - 02.06.14

Best known for his Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle exhibited on the Fourth Plinth in 2010, Yinka Shonibare MBE RA discusses, with Patrick Wright, how his thought-provoking works have been inspired by his experiences of London.

Shonibare’s expertly crafted work confronts issues of race and class in a contemporary context. They span a range of media – working in painting, sculpture, photography, and, more recently, film and performance. In retelling western history he questions the meaning of cultural and national definitions, describing himself as a ‘post-colonial’ hybrid. Indeed, it was his subversive take on the Grand Tour in Gallantry and Criminal Conversation that launched him on an international stage. His Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, exhibited on the Fourth Plinth in 2010 and is now at National Maritime Museum.

His second ever public commissioned piece ‘Wind Sculpture’ has just been unveiled on Howick Place in Victoria to celebrate the area as London’s new ‘Cultural Quarter’, demonstrating the role of public art in regenerating cities.

Part of the London Festival of Architecture.