INVISIBLE MAN 2018

Yinka Shonibare's sculpture "Invisible Man" presents a figure cloaked in vibrant Dutch wax fabric, a style synonymous with West Africa yet rooted in European industrial production. The layering of cultures is key here, setting up a dance between visibility and concealment. The fabric itself is rich with texture, a kind of visual noise that almost overwhelms. The figure's head is a smooth, dark globe, rendering the person faceless, anonymous. The net slung over the shoulder, filled with what looks like the spoils of some unseen labor, adds another layer of complexity. The pose, a kind of burdened stoop, speaks volumes about the weight of history, the baggage of cultural identity. There's a push and pull between the ornamental and the abject, reflecting Shonibare’s interest in the ironies of colonial and post-colonial identity, akin to Fred Wilson's mining of museum collections. In Shonibare's hands, the invisible becomes impossible to ignore.