Playing With Perspective

Nothing catches your eye like a headless statue. Especially when it's intentionally headless. Yinka Shonibare MBE, a Nigerian British artist, uses headless figures to juxtapose the notion of traditional and multicultural, all while teaching us an interesting history lesson. Did you know that "traditional African fabric" was initially referred to as "Dutch wax cotton" because it was originally made in Holland? When the British couldn't find a market for the fabric in Europe, they took the fabric to Africa and sold it to Africans. There's actually nothing African about the fabric except that Africans have adopted it and re-appropriated it to the point it's become a symbol of African-ness. Shonibare's work is a fascinating representation of how identity is contingent upon the materials at hand, and that culture—even when claiming "tradition"—is always subject to evolution. Especially when colonialism is involved.

How To Blow Two Heads Up At Once

Scrambling for Africa