Opening Reception Saturday 13 February at 3pm • In-conversation at 3:3pm

Recreating the Pastoral dra  ws the viewer through a series of installations which juxtapose elements of elaborate 18th and 19th C European dress and courtly behaviour with contemporary political sensitivities expressed through Shonibare’s use for Dutch wax cotton cloth, itself a culturally ambigious 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 C 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.

Yinka Shonibare is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Blain Southern, Berlin

Associated event:

Yinka Shonibare MBE in conversation with Declan Long

3.30pm Saturday 13 February; places limited, please reserve with box office on 059 9172400