Twins I

Location

Country: Nigeria
City: Lagos
Place: British Embassy

In these silkscreen prints, the artist Yinka Shonibare explores the significance of twins in Yoruba folklore, aligning this with ideas of colonialism. Known as ‘ibeji’, twins are regarded as divine beings and capable of bringing either affluence or despair to their parents. They are seen as sources of both anxiety and celebration. Shonibare’s work explores issues of race and class through the media of painting, sculpture, photography and film, questioning the meaning of cultural and national definitions. In this work the disparate ideas associated with twins and the questions around the identity of two individuals who are similar but not the same, serves as a reference to the legacy of colonialism. The screenprints include varied cultural references, with figures in Victorian-era dress mirroring Yoruba masks amidst swirling patterns that include newspaper cuttings and gold leaf. Also included are fragments of fabrics in prints associated with Africa. A familiar motif in Shonibare’s work, these fabrics were inspired by Indonesian batik design, mass-produced by their Dutch colonisers and eventually sold to colonies in West Africa. In the 1960s, this same material became a new sign of African identity and independence.

Yinka Shonibare CBE was born in London and moved to Lagos, Nigeria at the age of three. He returned to London to study Fine Art, first at Byam School of Art and then at Goldsmiths College, where he received his MFA. Shonibare was a Turner Prize nominee in 2004, and was also awarded the decoration of Member of the ‘Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ or MBE, a title he has added to his professional name. Shonibare was notably commissioned by Okwui Enwezor at Documenta XI, Kassel, in 2002 to create his most recognised work 'Gallantry and Criminal Conversation' that launched him on to an international stage. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and internationally at leading museums. In September 2008, his major mid-career survey commenced at the MCA Sydney and then toured to the Brooklyn Museum, New York and the Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. He was elected as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy, London in 2013. In January 2019, Yinka Shonibare was awarded the decoration of CBE.

Places

Subjects

family, twin, religion, folklore, Yoruba

Materials & Techniques

gold leaf, paper (as artists material), print (as object name), screenprint, silkscreen print, Somerset Tub 310gsm paper

Artist

Yinka Shonibare CBE (1962 - )

Title

Twins I

Edition

Number 1 in an edition of 10 plus 2 artist's proofs

Date

2015

Medium

silkscreen print with gold leaf on paper

Dimensions

height: 106.0 cm; width: 102.0 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the artist via Stephen Friedman Gallery, September 2019

Inscription

recto: inscribed by the artist 'Yinka Shonibare 1/10 2015', bottom left

Provenance

Stephen Friedman Gallery, London UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 12 September 2019

GAC number

18828