Yinka Shonibare CBE End of Empire

One of my favorite things about my job is encountering new artists, and recently the most captivating has been British Nigerian artist Yinka Shobinaire CBE. He has worked in a wide range of mediums, but this monograph focuses on his textile and fabric works. These sculptural pieces are vivid and arresting, and explore issues of colonialism, postcolonialism, and the construction of identity. Recommended By Leah B., Powells.com

Since the 1990s, the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE has developed opulently executed sculptures and installations, colorful collages, and theatrically staged photographs and films. The signature material in Yinka Shonibare's multimedia artworks, so-called African fabric, is a cipher. Originally produced in Manchester and intended for sale in Indonesia, the brightly colored fabric gained its name after British imperialists shifted their focus to colonial Africa. Featuring this product of both colonization and self-identification, Shonibare's sculptures and installations revisit the conflicted legacy of many historical artifacts in order to explore the complex hybridity of postcolonial life with unique irony. Illustrated by two hundred full-color reproductions of his work, Yinka Shonibare CBE: End of Empire offers an up-close encounter with the tensions and history that motivate this singular artist, tracing colonialism and its consequences for leaders, worldviews, and body images in his oeuvre.

Thorsten Sadowsky is director of the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, Austria.