PLANETS IN MY HEAD (TRUMPET GIRL) 2018

Curator: Yinka Shonibare's "PLANETS IN MY HEAD (TRUMPET GIRL)," created in 2018, is a compelling mixed-media sculpture. My immediate thought is how the playful, vibrant fabric choices clash intriguingly with the figure's stillness. Editor: It strikes me as somewhat unsettling, this headless figure frozen mid-performance. There's a dissonance between the cheerful textiles and the obscured identity that raises many questions about identity and agency. Curator: Shonibare is known for using Dutch wax fabrics, which, while often associated with African identity, were actually industrialized by the Dutch and later adopted in West Africa. They're potent symbols of cultural hybridity and post-colonialism. Notice how the patterns resonate like echoing musical scales themselves. Editor: Exactly. This speaks to the complexities of cultural appropriation and re-appropriation. The figure's pose, playing the trumpet towards the heavens, could be interpreted as an aspiration, a striving for something beyond earthly limitations. Is the unseen head a commentary on societal silencing, a denial of individual voice? Curator: Perhaps. The sphere where the head should be becomes a blank canvas for projection. It reminds me of the classical idea of celestial harmony, where music represented the mathematical relationships between the planets, and the individual's place within that grand design. The unseen head becomes a symbolic void. Editor: Right, but what if that void is itself a symbol? An absence, perhaps pointing to historical erasure or the ongoing struggle for visibility of marginalized groups? The "planets" in her head become all the untold stories, suppressed potentials… Curator: It’s this layering of historical context and visual metaphor that makes Shonibare's work so engaging. The piece transcends simple representation. It embodies a vibrant, uneasy dialogue between tradition and modernity. Editor: A potent reminder that art, at its best, can make visible what is often unseen or deliberately ignored. The silent music coming from the trumpet is still carrying vital echoes across time.