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IYP X Whitechapel, London

Art Icon Committee 2021

22.03.2021

On Monday 22 March 2021, Whitechapel Gallery hosted its first virtual gala celebration in honour of Yinka Shonibare CBE (b. 1962, London) supported by the Swarovski Foundation. The evening included a special performance by four-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo and an online auction of leading contemporary artworks with our auction partner Phillips. Yinka Shonibare CBE was the eighth artist to receive the prestigious Art Icon Award.

Shonibare is internationally renowned for his multi-layered work that explores issues of race, class and colonialism through his multi-disciplinary practice. Often incorporating references from Western art history and literature, his work questions the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities within the context of globalisation.

Photograph ® Yinka Shonibare Studio; Photographer James Mollison, 2014

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