The hibiscus and the rose.
The rose represents Yinka Shonibare’s birthplace and current home of London. The rose is England’s national flower, long used to symbolize the nation.
The hibiscus represents Nigeria, his parents’ home country and the place of his childhood–Lagos, to be specific. Growing up, he would eat the nectar of the hibiscus flower, ubiquitous across the country.
Shoinbare (b. 1962) spoke Yoruba at home and English at the private school he attended. A “postcolonial hybrid” in his own words, the artist’s identity was shaped by his bicultural heritage growing up between the center and margin of the British Empire.
“Yinka Shonibare CBE: Planets in
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