Yinka Shonibare CBE: Suspended States – a 'stunning' show
Serpentine Gallery exhibition touches upon slavery, colonialism and global warming

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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's "classic Yinka" – a show marrying "immediate visual allure" to "disquieting meaning". Shonibare's work is always "beautifully distinct", said Laura Cumming in The Observer. Even if he hasn't literally made these pieces himself (he has been disabled since adolescence), they are unmistakably his creations. It's a blessing and a curse, however. A work entitled "The War Library" sees 5,000-plus volumes on conflicts past and present bound in Shonibare's trademark textiles and exhibited in a huge bookshelf. "Stunning" as it is, he has made very similar pieces before. And it works in terms of rather obvious generalisations: the artist is "against colonialism, racism, imperialism, war". Elsewhere, he has made fibreglass copies of statues depicting figures from British imperial history, including Queen Victoria and Churchill, in his "gorgeously recognisable" batik patterns – again, a tactic he has deployed before. You're left feeling that he has been doing exactly the same thing for 30 years, and that "nothing – and I mean nothing – has changed".
Perhaps that's because it's still so relevant, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. By turning "patriotic statues" into objects that would be unimaginable to the people they commemorate, he has created "a witty, weirdly beautiful conclusion" to the furious debate around public sculpture that has raged since 2020. The conclusion to the show, "Sanctuary City", is especially "moving". Scale models of Aleppo Cathedral, the UN headquarters and the Bibby Stockholm barge, among others, are lit from within to reveal interiors patterned with his trademark fabrics. All these sanctuaries are at best ambiguous symbols – yet they "glow with the idea of protecting vulnerable people". We should be thankful for Shonibare – a gentle artist who "encourages us to think a bit".
Serpentine South Galley, London W2 (020-7402 6075 ). Until 1 September
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 explosively funny cartoons about the 4th of July
Cartoons Artists take on liberty and justice for all, a terrifying firework, and more
-
Jeff in Venice: a "triumph of tackiness"?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Crossword: July 5, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.