Saturday, 12 September 2009

Yinka Shonibare - Odette Odile

I went to the Deloitte Ignite event at ROH last weekend, although I really went to see this, and left for Pestival after I saw it and didn't really take in anything else. Nothing else caught my attention. I liked this alot though. It's a play on Odette/Odile in Swan Lake - 2 ballerinas, one black one white, wearing african textile tutus dance and mirror each other on each side of a fancy mirror frame. It's very very beautiful. As I watched it I found myself forgetting these were 2 seperate people...then remembering, and wanting one to cross the invisible line of the "mirror". Like when Dorothy helps Ozma out of the mirror in Return to Oz! Maybe.

Yinka Shonibare does a lot of installation type art using African textiles in European settings, like the ballet, or ballgowns. He makes his point in a very visually attractive way. I like that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/africabeyond/africanarts/news/18050.shtml

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