Recreating The Pastoral draws the viewer through a series of installations which juxtapose elements of elaborate 18th and 19th Century European dress and courtly behaviour with contemporary political sensitivities expressed through Shonibare's use of Dutch wax cotton cloth, itself a culturally ambiguous material replete with a colonial history of appropriation. The installations question Euro-centric histories, and are a powerful expression of the complexities inherent in contemporary discourse on post-colonialism and identity. Shonibare's Jardin d'Amour mimics the frivolity and excess of 18th Century Europe. The theatrical staging of works, framed within an elaborate artificial maze draw references to the colonial relationship to landscape, and the control and creation of spaces for pleasure by a powerful elite.

Associated events:

Artists Talk
Yinka Shonibare MBE in conversation with Declan Long
3.30pm VISUAL
Saturday 13th February 2016

Film Screenings
GB Shaw Theatre, 11.00am - 3.00pm - Free

Screening Dates:
Sat 13th – Sat 20th Feb
Sat 9th – Sat 16th April
Tues 24th – Fri 27th May
Sun 12th – Mon 13th June
Wed 15th – Fri 17th June

For four weeks this season, the gallery programme includes film screenings of work by Yinka Shonibare in the GB Shaw Theatre. A rare opportunity to see all three of Shonibare’s opulent and visually stunning films:

Un Ballo en Masquera
2004, 32 mins, HD Digital Video
Odile and Odette
2005, 14 min. 28 sec, HD Digital video
Addio Del Passato
2015, 74 mins, Digital Video

Yinka Shonibare is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Blain Southern, BerlinImage: Yinka Shonibare MBE, 'Adam and Eve' 2013, Mannequins, Dutch wax cotton textile, fibreglass, wire and steel baseplate, 285x230x115cm. Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman gallery, London and Blain | Southern, Berlin. Photo by Christian Glaeser, 2014.