In the 1990s, the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare had an "epiphany", said Ben Luke in the Evening Standard. He discovered that the colourful batik fabrics sold in Brixton Market, which he had always associated with West Africa, were in fact the product of complicated historical exchanges. They were based on Indonesian textiles shipped to Europe and thence "industrially produced" in Holland: they only arrived in Africa through colonial commerce.
Ever since, he has used this material to create work that explores the complexities of imperial history, and to question notions of "cultural authenticity". He has wrapped effigies of figures from British history in batik, and used the fabric to create "wind sculptures" – sails which evoke the principal motor of the slave trade. His trick, however, is to make it all look bright and joyous.
This new show at the Serpentine brings together a number of recent installations and sculptures, all using his "signature fabric". It touches on everything from slavery and colonialism to global warming and the refugee crisis.
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