GIRL BALANCING KNOWLEDGE III 2017

"Girl Balancing Knowledge III" by Yinka Shonibare presents us with a figure draped in vibrant Dutch wax fabric, balancing precariously. It's a sculpture, not a painting, but it has such a painterly quality! I’m thinking about the artist’s process, his intent, and the physical work of balancing all those books on her head. Knowledge isn't just something you read. There is something about balance and imbalance, success and failure, in the wobbling tower of books. That Dutch wax fabric Shonibare uses feels like a painter’s palette. The vibrant color communicates so much – a celebration of cultural hybridity, maybe? You can see how his sculptures have continued this thread, and they link him to earlier artists who explored similar themes of identity, power, and cultural exchange. Artists are always having this conversation. Shonibare embraces that glorious messiness. It reminds us that art, like life, is about continuous learning, adapting, and finding balance in the face of ever-increasing knowledge and information.