Morris-Jumel Mansion Opens Yinka Shonibare MBE Exhibition Today

Today, May 1st, Morris-Jumel Mansion opens Yinka Shonibare MBE: Colonial Arrangements, a special, site-specific exhibition of work by English-born Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE (b. 1962).

Shonibare's art explores identity, race, gender and the cross-pollination of cultures through the use of life-sized mannequins adorned in period costumes rendered in Dutch wax fabric (the colorful, Indonesian textile introduced to Africa by British and Dutch merchant-colonizers).

Colonial Arrangements is being held in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of Morris-Jumel Mansion, a storied historic house located in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan.

Colonial Arrangements, scheduled to run through August 31, will feature an entirely new work by Shonibare commissioned by Morris-Jumel. The work utilizes 19th century theatrical techniques to create an apparition of Eliza Jumel (1775-1865), the Mansion's longest-tenured resident. In addition, placed throughout Morris-Jumel's 18th and 19th century period rooms will be sculptures of children clothed in period costumes made of Dutch wax batik cotton textile taken from the artist's 2009 series "Mother and Father Worked Hard So I Can Play."

Set within the Mansion's well-appointed interiors, Shonibare's work elucidates, vivifies, and examines Morris-Jumel's multi-layered history, which spans the colonial period to the present. Colonial Arrangements gives occasion to consider the interrelationships of Europe, Africa and the Americas during the 18th and 19th centuries, and provides a window into the lives of the era's men, women and children. And, as the exhibition's name suggests, Shonibare's work draws attention to colonialism's role in shaping - arranging, if you will - the social and cultural structures in which the residents of Morris-Jumel lived.

Colonial Arrangements is being held in partnership with the Historic House Trust of New York City, overseer of the Historic House Trust Contemporary Arts Partnership program. Generously sponsoring the exhibition are the James Cohan Gallery, the New York State Council on the Arts and The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.