Yale Center for British Art, Acquired with funds from the Bequest of Daniel S. Kalk, the Director's Discretionary Fund, and the Friends of British Art Fund
Commissioned by the YCBA, Shonibare’s sculpture addresses the eighteenth-century triangular trade between West Africa, North America, and Europe of enslaved people, animals, and goods. The female figure, a personification of Britain’s empire, stands on a globe that depicts the world as it was understood by the colonizers. Her dress is made of Ankara, a fabric associated with West Africa but first introduced by the British and Dutch. The birdcage symbolizes the colonial belief that humans and other living beings could be held as private property. --- The three birds refer to those presented to Princess Augusta in 1753 by Mrs. Eliza Lucas Pinckney, owner of a South Carolina slave plantation. Here they are free, an acknowledgment of West Africa’s eventual independence. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025