A new installation on the theme of immigration by Yinka Shonibare entitled The British Library has just opened as part of the Brighton Festival and HOUSE 2014. The piece features 10,000 books, each bound in Shonibare’s trademark African Dutch wax batik fabric. The artist’s latest sculptural work explores the contributions made to British culture and society by people who have come to the country from other parts of the world, or whose ancestors arrived here as immigrants. Rendered in gold foil on the spines of each book is the name of a famous British cultural figure; either an immigrant themselves or someone descended from an immigrant family.
Yinka Shonibare’s The British Library is on show now until May 25 at the Old Reference Library in Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.
