Visiting Artists Program: Yinka Shonibare CBE in Conversation with Delinda Collier

The interdisciplinary practice of London-based artist Yinka Shonibare CBE uses citations of Western art history and literature to question the validity of contemporary cultural and natural identities within the context of globalization. Through examining race, class, and the construction of cultural identity, his works comment on the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories.

In 2004, Shonibare was nominated for the Turner Prize, and in 2008, his mid-career survey began at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and toured to the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. In 2010, his first public art commission, Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, was displayed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, and was acquired by the National Maritime Museum, London. In 2013, he was elected as a Royal Academician and was awarded the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 New Year’s Honors List. His installation The British Library was acquired by Tate in 2019 and is currently on display at Tate Modern, London. His work is included in notable museum collections including Tate, London; the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Shonibare will discuss his practice with Delinda Collier, associate professor of art history, theory, and criticism and interim dean of graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research interests are in old and new media in Africa, Luso-African art, and Cold War modernisms. She is the author of Repainting the Walls of Lunda: Information Colonialism and Angolan Art (University of Minnesota, 2016) and Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa (Duke University, 2020), among many articles, essays, and reviews.

Presented in partnership with SAIC's Wellness Center and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.