Yinka Shonibare
Web presence
Website: https://yinkashonibare.com/news/
Works
Woman Moving Up
Date
2023
Description
A Black woman carries her belongings as she ascends an ornate staircase, symbolizing her social and economic rise, as well as her move northward during the Great Migration in the United States. British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare’s work addresses this massive movement, which saw millions of African Americans leave the rural South for cities in the North, Midwest, and West between 1916 and 1970. At the same time, the staircase, reminiscent of English manor houses, alludes to the exploitative British colonialism that profited from the labor of the migrants’ ancestors, generating unprecedented wealth.