By: Sebastián Leon Fallas

For this presentation, I explore the work of the artist Yinka Shonibare through the framework of trans-Mediterranean studies. By examining his artistic practice through this perspective, I will situate him between the geographies of Nigeria and England, and therefore understand his practice as one that stretches across the Mediterranean Sea and beyond the fixity of land borders. His fiberglass sculpture, particularly, engages with the themes of migration, colonialism, and identity all of which animate the colonial histories of the Mediterranean region and highlight intricate connections that extend outside of the conventional understanding of the Mediterranean geography. For this audiovisual material, I will center on two of his famous fiberglass sculpture installations:  Gallantry and Criminal Conversation(2002) and Feeling Free Like a Bird (2023).