APHRODITE OF KNIDOS (AFTER PRAXITELES) 2017

Yinka Shonibare’s sculpture, APHRODITE OF KNIDOS (AFTER PRAXITELES), reinvents classical sculpture by dressing it up in Dutch wax fabric, you know, those vibrant patterns that tell stories of global trade and cultural fusion. The piece is a headless figure with a globe where you might expect to see her head. The statue's draped in these vibrant colors. It makes you think about who gets remembered in history, and how. It also seems like Aphrodite is carrying the weight of the world, literally. I wonder what Shonibare was thinking when he made this. I wonder if he was thinking about the original Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and how we’ve changed her story over time. There’s something profound in that gesture, mixing cultures and histories. It's like, he's saying, "Let's rethink our myths, remix our symbols, and make something new!"