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"Nelson's Ship in a Bottle"Yinka Shonibare CBE RA

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June 18, 2010

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA discusses the theatricality and sense of wonder inherent in his public sculpture Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, installed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London.

Situated across from Nelson’s Column, a monument erected to honor Admiral Lord Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars, the brightly-colored sails of Shonibare’s boat reference the complex heritage of British colonialism and its multicultural present.

More information and credits

Credits

Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins. Camera: Ian Serfontein. Sound: Paul Stadden & Luke Williams. Editor: Joaquin Perez. Artwork Courtesy: Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA). Thanks: Tamsin Selby & Greater London Authority.

Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian

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History

Sculpture Installation Textile

How It's Made

Known for using batik in costumed dioramas that explore race and colonialism, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA also employs painting, sculpture, photography, and film in work that disrupts and challenges our notions of cultural identity. Taking on the honorific CBE (and previously MBE) as part of his name in everyday use, Shonibare plays with the ambiguities and contradictions of his attitude toward the Establishment and its legacies of colonialism and class. In multimedia projects that reveal his passion for art history, literature, and philosophy, Shonibare provides a critical tour of Western civilization and its achievements and failures.