University of Iowa , Iowa City
e-mail: yomiola@gmail.com
Abstract
If there were any doubt about the place of the Diary of a Victorian Dandy by Yinka Shonibare [b.1962] in contemporary African art, it would diminish with choice of a photograph from the series as book cover image for Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace. The book is, perhaps, the definitive critical reader on contemporary African art. Similarly, Shonibare's Diary of a Victorian Dandy series appears indicative of the direction of, and complexities that confront the contemporary African artist within today's global marketplace. Shonibare's personal and professional journeys and media of artistic expression, reflect such new realities. Born in London , raised in Lagos , educated and presently practicing in London , Shonibare works in painting, sculpture, fashion design and photography. His use of the Western modernist medium of photography within the domain of the empire is the main concern of this paper. The iconic strength of 21:00 Hours , a photograph from Shonibare's signature series, the Diary of a Victorian Dandy , hinges on its identity as a postmodern and postcolonial image of identity, power, and parody. Focusing on 21:00 Hours , this essay examines the triad of identity, power and parody from bifocal standpoints of centrality and ambiguity within European modernist and African traditional art frames of reference.