Boy on Flying machine

Celebrated British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE’s work explores global identities, critiquing race and class with a focus on the Africa-Europe nexus. Born in London, raised in Lagos and a graduate of the Byam Shaw School of Art and Goldsmiths College London, Shonibare’s nuanced view of identity shines in works like “Boy on Flying Machine”. This piece, from his 2009 Santa Barbara Museum of Art exhibition, features a headless figure dressed in 18th-century attire made from Shonibare’s signature batik sitting atop a unicycle, highlighting identity’s complexities.