From April 11, 2025, to February 28, 2026, Fondation H is hosting British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA for a carte blanche titled "Safiotra [Hybridities]", his most significant and comprehensive exhibition on the African continent to date. 

 

This carte blanche includes a monographic exhibition of Shonibare’s work, featuring pieces created over a span of 20 years, including "The African Library" (2018), acquired by Fondation H in 2023. This monumental installation consists of six thousand books, each representing figures who shaped postcolonial Africa, and is complemented by a digital platform providing the public with access to historical and biographical resources about these individuals. The project also features an exhibition of works from the Fondation H collection, curated by Yinka Shonibare, as well as a series of public events and educational initiatives aimed at engaging the Malagasy audience, and an exhibition catalogue.

 

Yinka Shonibare was born in 1962 in London, UK. His interdisciplinary practice uses citations of Western art history and literature to question the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities within the context of globalisation. Through examining race, class and the construction of cultural identity, his works comment on the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe, and their respective economic and political histories. Among his major recent projects are the solo exhibition "Suspended States" at the Serpentine Gallery in 2024, as well as his participation in the Nigeria Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale with the exhibition "Nigeria Imaginary". Shonibare’s works are in notable museum collections internationally, including the Tate Collection, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.