Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962, London)

Scramble for Africa

2003, 14 life-size fibreglass mannequins, 14 chairs, table, Dutch wax printed cotton.

The Pinnell Collection, Dallas. Photo by Stephen White, Courtesy James Cohan Gallery, New York and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London ©Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA)

The "Scramble for Africa” is the name given to the carving up in the late 19th century of the African continent by European leaders hungry for what the Belgian King Leopold II called “a slice of this magnificent African cake.” Shonibare uses batik-pattern fabric – a symbol since the 1960s of African identity - to dress headless, life-size sculptures representing the participants at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, when these leaders negotiated the regions each one of them would control.  The headless figures symbolise both the mindlessness of the colonial venture and the resulting loss of humanity suffered by the African nations.

The headless figures sit around an antique conference table on a raised platform, like actors on a stage.   The lighting coming from underneath and the figures’ angry gesticulations create a dramatic effect, and we can almost hear them shouting as they stake their claims. Talking about the way he creates a work like this one, Shonibare says, "Theatricality is certainly a device in my work, it is a way of setting the stage; it is also a fiction-a hyper-real, theatrical device that enables you to re-imagine events from history. . ."