PLANETS IN MY HEAD (TRUMPET BOY) 2018

Yinka Shonibare's sculpture presents a figure dressed in Dutch wax fabric, head replaced by a globe, poised to play a trumpet. I imagine Shonibare constructing this figure, almost like a collage in three dimensions; what a puzzle it must have been, assembling the parts to create this uncanny whole. The headless figure, so vibrant in its patterned suit, makes me think about identity, history, and the stories we tell ourselves. I can almost feel the weight of that globe, pressing down, full of continents and countries and conflicts. The trumpet held up, ready to blare out a tune, a call to attention. Shonibare has always been interested in the way cultures mix and clash, and in how we make sense of the past. Artists like him keep the conversation going. They’re in dialogue with history and with each other, riffing on ideas and finding new ways to express the messy, complicated world we live in.