The Future of the Past

The Future of the Past, is Yinka Shonibare MBE’s first solo-exhibition in Spain. Curator, Octavio Zaya, has selected 22 works by Shonibare which explore authenticity, identity, colonialism and power relations through the artist’s often ironic drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, films, and installations. Many of Shonibare’s works feature his signature material, the brightly coloured ‘African’ batik fabric he buys at Brixton market in London. Batik was originally inspired by Indonesian design, mass-produced by the Dutch and eventually sold to the colonies in West Africa. In the 1960s the material became a signifier of African identity and independence.