インカ・ショニバレ MBE
Yinka Shonibare MBE

1962年ロンドン生まれ、ロンドンを拠点に活動。
ナイジェリアのラゴスで育った作家は、ダッチワックス（ろうけつ染め）によるカンガ（アフリカ更紗）を用いて、大航海時代の船や書籍、ヨーロッパ植民地主義時代風の衣装をまとう人物像などの立体や絵画を制作しています。作品に表れるハイブリッドなイメージは、ユーモアや詩的な魅力にあふれ、自身の民族的背景にあるアフリカと、現在の拠点であるヨーロッパとの歴史的関係を示唆します。
本展では立体作品に加えて、アフリカ更紗で作られた19世紀フランス風のデザインによるドレスを纏った黒人の歌手が、ヴェルディ作曲のオペラ『椿姫』のヒロインであるヴィオレッタに扮して、アリア「Addio del Passato（さようなら、過ぎ去った日々よ）」を歌いあげる映像作品を紹介します。

Born 1962 in London, UK. Lives and works in London.
Shonibare was born in London and moved to Lagos, Nigeria at the age of three. He returned to London to study Fine Art, first at Byam Shaw School of Art (now Central Saint Martins College) and then at Goldsmiths, where he received his MFA.
Shonibare's work explores issues of race, class and colonialism through the media of painting, sculpture, photography and film. His trademark material is the brightly coloured 'African' batik fabric he buys in London. This type of fabric was inspired by Indonesian design, mass-produced by the Dutch and finally sold to the colonies in West Africa. It has become a sign of African identity and independence.
In this exhibition, in addition to the sculptural works, Shonibare presents a film piece in which a female singer laments. She is wearing a 19th century French-style dress made of Dutch wax printed cotton textile. She plays the role of Violetta who is a heroine of the opera La Traviata by Verdi, and sings the aria “Addio del passato.”