Interview with artist Yinka Shonibare MBE

Artist Yinka Shonibare MBE

In our May episode, we hear from Nigerian-British artist Yinka Shonibare MBE, one of the Young British Artists featured in Charles Saatchi’s 1997 Sensations show and now an academician of the Royal Academy. Yinka talks about his site-specific installation at The British Library, currently on show at the Brighton Festival, as well as marketing, art school and the role of humour in his work. 

Yinka Shonibare on the importance of humour in art: 

“If the work is aggressive, the audience becomes defensive and doesn’t think about the issues. If the work is light and humorous and beautiful, even though it might be dark, people do think about it. If you approach someone with a weapon, they just run away, they don’t engage.”

The British Library by Yinka Shonibare MBE, a co-commission by HOUSE 2014 and Brighton Festival, 2014. Photo by Jonathan Bassett