Yinka Shonibare MBE at Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art

For the inaugural Front International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Yinka Shonibare has made a site-specific installation. The American Library consists of approximately 6,000 books covered in the artist’s signature wax printed batik textile displayed on open bookcases in the Cleveland Public Library. Each book will have the name of a first- or second-generation immigrant to the United States who has made notable contributions to American art and culture embossed in gold on the spine.

Front International is a new citywide art programme based in Cleveland, Ohio which brings together international artists, curators and scholars.

Shonibare, through a wide ranging artistic practice, is well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. Working in painting, sculpture, photography, film and installation, Shonibare’s work examines race, class and cultural identity through political commentary of the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe and their respective economic and political histories.

The American Library will be exhibited at the Cleveland Public Library, Ohio, 14 July - 30 September 2018.

Click here to view available works by Shonibare.