Miniature masks for Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Ritual Ecstasy of the Modern, 2023
In 2022, I was commissioned to clay model West African masks on a miniature scale for artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA.
These five mini masks, entitled African Roots of Modernism, featured as part of Yinka's art works at the following exhibition:
Ritual Ecstasy of the Modern
Cristea Roberts Gallery, London
22 September - 4 November 2023
cristearoberts.com/exhibitions/251-yinka-shonibare-cbe-ritual-ecstasy-of-the-modern
“The masks have been painted with Dutch wax batik patterns, a key feature of the artist’s visual vocabulary. The recurring use of batik within Shonibare’s prints and these new sculptures, alludes to complicated colonial histories. Originally inspired by Indonesian design, batik fabric was mass-produced by the Dutch in the 1800s and then sold to the nation’s colonies in West Africa, where, ironically, it became a symbol of African identity and independence. By employing batik patterns, the artist acknowledges the legacy of African aesthetics and the history of modernism while conceptualising his sculptures as ritual objects with power in their own right.”
Gba Gba
Beete Pebood
Bété
Bo Nun Amuin
Mbulu Ngulu
Images courtesy of the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London
Photographer: Stephen White & Co.