Yinka Shonibare gives back to Africa with its sales of art

In April 2011, at the invitation of the renowned curator Bisi Silva, Yinka Shonibare visited the Nigerian city of Lagos, who invited London artists to talk about his practice and host the show. Silva and Shonibare envisioned no space to install the show, but the trip ended up forming in a different way.

In Lagos, where he grew up, Shonibare realized that despite the rich artistic talent of the city, there was no corresponding infrastructure to promote it. In 2019, to help fill this gap, Shonibare established the nonprofit Guest Artist Space (GAS) Foundation in Nigeria. (The foundation was developed by the “Guest Project Program” established by Shonibare, London in 2008).

In 2022, the construction and delays in 1922 were caused by the 19th pandemic and in partnership with the Yinka Shonibare Foundation held a local launch and GAS scholarship award to support medium-sized artists and curators across Africa.

Winning the award is “very sure [and] 2024 winner Amanda Iheme said: “Verification… feels like the work I do. Quoting some familiar experience of an artist without getting the familiar experience they applied for, especially in a person’s reputation and the concerns of the arts that she won in this place when a person’s reputation and artistic concerns affect the job she ends up winning. Focus.

During his residency, Iheme gave herself “the opportunity to try different careers beyond what I usually do” as an architectural photographer. Although she has served as a scientific researcher, she said the right to residency has allowed her to expand her research skills as an artist.

“Residence gives me the opportunity to expand my career rather than just photography and see my artwork as a practice. I think that the residents of gas really help me to consider myself a creator and also to consider myself a creator of knowledge, a person who creates art – while contributing and expanding knowledge around the focus.”

The foundation describes itself as “committed to promoting international art exchanges” and the foundation has two facilities. Its main building, Gas Lagos, resides, has spaces for accommodation, activities and studios, hosts residences and programs to support the research and practice development of art and design practitioners in Africa and the world. The foundation also lives on Gas Farm House on 54 acres of land in Ijebu, Ogun State. The farmhouse produces crops including cassava, tomatoes, corn, claws and peppers, and interdisciplinary research and practice in areas including agronomics, food sustainability and architecture.

Gas Foundation welcomes its first resident, curator and researcher, Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock, in 2022, and since then, nearly 100 recruited artists and curators have been hosted, including Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Portia Zvavahera, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Emma Emma Preminjo, Joy Labinjo, Evan ifekoya, Evan ifekoya and Evan ifekoya and Evan ifekoya in for Three ifekoya and evan ifekoya and Nigeria.

The foundation is funded by customers and Shawneebarre himself, who directs the way their art is sold to the Gas Foundation. “I always support the operation of residency,” Shawneebarre told Artnews. “I give them a certain amount of money every year so that we can keep the foundation going.”

His work is one of the first things visitors see at the Venice Biennale last year, and last year he held a widely acclaimed show at the Serpentine Gallery in London. He has been nominated for the Turner Prize and was elected as a Royal Fellow, awarded the commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Now he is holding an exhibition at Fondation H in Madagascar, which is known as his largest solo exhibition in Africa to date.

Given his status as a well-known artist, did he think of a return to the Gas Foundation?

“Absolutely!” Shonibare said people believe in the sense of accomplishment that someone can support Nigeria, Africa and its diaspora. “It’s about giving back to society [because] No one succeeds on their own. ”

Shonibare’s foundation has greatly helped artists in the country where art scenes are still growing. For example, later this year, interdisciplinary Matagascar-based artist Joey Aresoa will live in the Natural Gas Foundation in Nigeria. This is her first international residence and a direct result of a partnership established with H. Foodation H. Considered to be the first private contemporary art foundation in Madagascar, the foundation was founded by Hassanein Hiridjee, a French-Malagassi Gallery collector and businessman.

Aresoa will be able to access “they are in [G.A.S.] Foundation and will interact with the most fun and challenging people so she will change forever. ” Artnews. “And she already knows it. She has expressed the fact that she knows that this experience will change her.”

The Natural Gas Foundation is associated with Shonibare’s sculptures and installations that explore history from an African perspective. He is known for his artwork adorning Dutch wax printed fabrics Library of Africa (2018), Large installation of 6,000 books wrapped in the material. This work highlights those who helped shape postcolonial Africa, such as Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Nelson Mandela, South Africa (South Africa), Patrice Lumumba (DRC) and Thomas Sankara (Burkina Faso), now part of Fondation H’s permanent collection and featured in Shonibare’s Pornesent Collection exhibitionBefore February 28, 2026, the Foundation was remodeled in the colonial architecture of Antanarivo, the work was complemented by digital interfaces decorated with biographies of these languages including Malagasy.

“He’s very important about narrative things. It actually helped us develop a detailed understanding of the past, who was there trying to shape it and defend it,” said Gus Casely-Hayford Obe, director of V&A East in London, told the Smithsonian National Museum, Artnews. “But, moreover, cumulatively, his work is an incredible catharsis. It is so exciting, uplifting to have a job that speaks so vigorously that it is actually denial that they actually construct the entire philosophical approach to attempting negative efforts.

Shonibare’s art is the most public part of his work, but according to Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, an art historian, curator of the painting and sculpture department of the Museum of Modern Art, is only part of his practice.

Nzewi called Shonibare one of the most sensitive artists of the 21st century and said he “has done a lot as an artist. But more importantly, I think his legacy is to give back to his legacy through the Gasoline Foundation, which he tries to build an environment with Niger Assew by stimulating the ecosystem on the continent in this cultural conversation and connecting it with Niger’s background. Artnews. “And he does it in a very robust way. It does it in a way that can make other institutions parallel. I think it’s really important. We need this critical infrastructure on the continent, working with very international standards.”

Since its establishment, the Natural Gas Foundation has carried out such Reply: CombinationThis is a multi-year cultural development program that focuses on the conservation and creativity of the African Art Library in collaboration with archivists, librarians, artists, curators and cultural institutions. This year’s edition of programming includes the launch of the African Library of Art Laboratory, a program designed to foster global collaboration in Africa and collections of popular libraries in Africa and Africa, as well as workshops on November 4 and 5 days during the Lagos Art Week.

Partner with Yinka Shonibare’s support, Gas Foundation Art Exchange: Dynamic Images Together with Lux, the British Art Foundation supports and promotes visual artists to use Moving Image. The collaborative, intercultural initiative was launched in 2023 to support the professional development of early to mid-term curators working in the mainland from the media.

Shonibare’s Gas Foundation is one of many independent art spaces that have emerged in West Africa over the past few decades, established in the Bisi Silva Center for Contemporary Arts, Lagos, Koyo Kouoh in Dhaka, Senegal, Senegal and Ibrahim Mahama’s Red Clay Studio and Cavannah Center for Charane Arts in Ghana Arts in n ghand Arts in nttttttttttttt for the productivity of contemporary art.

All of these spaces help to expand their respective art scenes, and now, Gas seems to have done something similar. It has partnered with Goodman Gallery, South London Gallery, Tivani Contemporary, University of London and Arts X Lagos. Although gas is relatively new, some say its activity is already key. Huille Huille, director of H, said Shonibare’s contribution was “huge” through his Arts and Gas Foundation.