British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE works in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, photography, film, and performance, to explore national and cultural identity. Referencing Western art and literature as well as economic and political history, he examines race and class through the lens of postcolonialism and globalisation. Shonibare’s signature material is the colourful wax batik fabric, an Indonesian design that was mass-produced by Dutch colonisers and sold to West African colonies. In his works, he appropriates it as a metaphor for global migration and cross-cultural connections. He often recreates famous historical artworks or events in which the characters wear clothes made from these characteristic batik fabrics.

Yinka Shonibare CBE studied at Byam Shaw School of Art and Goldsmiths and has had an outstanding career since the 1990s. He was elected member of the Royal Academy in 2013, was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2019. Shonibare was the laureate of the Whitechapel Art Icon Award in 2021 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2004. He has participated twice in the Venice Biennale and was part of documenta XI curated by Okwui Enwezor. His works are in the collections of the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Modern Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. Among his most famous works is Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle presented on the Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square in 2010. Shonibare is the founder of an eponymous foundation and the Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) with artist residencies in Lagos and Ijebu, Nigeria, dedicated to facilitating international cultural exchange, developing creative and research practices through residencies and collaborations.

Yinka Shonibare CBE was artist of the year 2022 and his work Wind Sculpture in Bronze I is the third sculpture acquired by the Princess Estelle Cultural Foundation thanks to a gift from Mari & Thomas Eldered.