Yinka Shonibare’s (CBE RA) wind sculptures are a joy to encounter. Here wind is captured and made visibile in three dimensional, dynamic forms.
Both colourful and playful, these are familiar objects (fabric) on a monumental scale. Cleverly, they are the hard representing the soft, whilst always looking light and elegant.
The first three photographs below are of ‘Wind Sculpture 2014’ in Howick Place, London. The title image and all the others are ‘Material (SG) IV’ (2023) in Regent’s Park, also in London.
I have been wanting to post about these for a while. I had already documented the Howick Place permanent wind sculpture in 2021, however I wanted to show more than one…
So it was great to discover that the Frieze Sculpture exhibition was showing Material (SG) IV this summer in one of London’s main parks. Although titled differently, the principle appears similar.
Wind sculptures to me are the best of public art. Exciting and original, they give pleasure to see, along with having multiple layers of meaning. It is an enjoyable experience to encounter one.
The inspiration for these sculptures came from Yinka’s first public sculpture, ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’, on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2010.
He felt the sails of this ship could stand alone, saying ‘I wanted to develop the sails and push that further, that’s how the wind sculptures came about.’
He wanted to capture the wind, as well as make the familar vast and therefore surreal. Defying gravity, they are made with a steel armature and fibre glass resin cast.
Yinka’s pratice questions the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities. It comments on the tangled inter-relationship between Africa and Europe.
The vibrant ‘African’ batik fabric is his signature material. Originally inspired by Indonesian design, it was mass produced by the Dutch and sold in West Africa.
It became a signifier of African identity and therefore, for Yinka, ‘the perfect metaphor for multi-layered identities’. It is painted by hand onto the wind sculptures.
I photographed these two sculptures using my mobile, a first for this features website. It’s an iPhone SE2020.
Both were photographed at similar times – late summer / early autumn during the afternoon – although on seperate years (2021 & 2023).
iPhones can produce nice photographs, I thought these came out pretty well. However, as always, the light is everything.
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