Serpentine will stage a solo exhibition of new and recent works by British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962, London, UK). Titled Suspended States, the exhibition will be presented at Serpentine South from 12 April to 1 September 2024. It will coincide with the artist’s presentation at the 60th International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia from April 2024.

The first solo exhibition of Shonibare’s work for over 20 years in a London public institution, it marks a return for the artist who first exhibited at Serpentine South in 1992 as a finalist in the Barclays Young Artist Award and as a participant in Serpentine’s 2006 Interview Marathon.

Suspended States will include new and recent installations, sculptures, pictorial quilts and woodcut prints. The works on view will explore central themes of legacies of colonial power, sites of refuge and shelter. Shonibare’s new works centre on migration and related conflicts, conversations on public sculptures and their significance in our cities. The exhibition will also delve into the ecological impact of colonisation, the European legacy of imperialism and consequential attempts at peace.

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA said: “My work has always been about the crossing of boundaries; geographically, visually, historically, and conceptually. Suspended States is an exhibition that addresses the suspension of boundaries, whether psychological, physical, or geographical — all boundaries of nationhood are in a state of suspense. This is an exhibition in which Western iconography is reimagined and interrogated, at a moment in history when nationalism, protectionism and hostility towards foreigners is on the rise.”

Central to the exhibition are themes of climate emergency and food sustainability. The series of African Bird Magic quilts juxtaposes images of African artefacts which inspired Western Modernism with images of endangered African birds. These pieces explore the degradation of the African environment through colonial industrialisation and its disastrous effects on ecology.

The exhibition will also explore how Shonibare’s social practice is an important extension of his visual one. The artist has developed and built two new artist residency spaces in Lagos and Ijebu, Nigeria, that opened in May 2022. Outside the village of Ikise near Ijebu Ode, is a working farm, two hours from Lagos that focuses on trans-disciplinary craft, design, art and the environment, food sustainability and agriculture. Yinka Shonibare CBE said: “I established the farm because I realised the importance of researching around nature, developing creative projects and celebrating the relationship with nature and the notion of food sustainability. It is very important, particularly for a place like Nigeria where food is heavily imported. The farm is a place where we’re growing food and where creative people can stay. It’s about entering my studio practice as well as my social practice.”

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Image: Yinka Shonibare CBE, Decolonised Structures (Queen Victoria), 2022, Fibreglass sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern and wooden plinth, 139 x 75 x 57 cm. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and New York, James Cohan Gallery, New York and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York. Photographer: Stephen White & Co. © Yinka Shonibare CBE