Yinka Shonibare: Nelson's Ship in a Bottle

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

On 24 May 2010, artist Yinka Shonibare unveiled Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, on the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. The piece was the world’s largest ship in a bottle, but it wasn’t just any vessel. It was a replica of HMS Victory, commanded by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, except Yinka had made an eye-catching change. The ship’s plain sails had been replaced with colourful Dutch wax sails. Dutch wax is a fabric typically sold in West Africa. Yinka’s work captivated crowds and left people wondering what it meant. “Some people were like ‘oh great we are celebrating Britishness. Fantastic’, and then some other groups said ‘Oh this is a critique of Britain. Fantastic’. I love it when the work does that!”, says Yinka. He tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty how his artwork was created and what it means to him.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service, with me, Anishka
0:10.6	Metanda Dowty.
0:11.6	Today, I'm taking you back to the 24th of May, 2010, where a crowd of people are gathered
0:17.0	in the corner of London's Trafalgar Square.
0:20.0	They are waiting to see a brand new piece of contemporary art.
0:24.3	And I hereby declare nozzles ship in a bottle, unveiled.
0:35.3	When that piece was shown, some people were like, oh, great, you know, this is where celebrating
0:40.3	Britishness, fantastic.
0:41.3	And then some other group said, oh, this is a critique of Britain, fantastic.
0:46.3	And I love it when it worked out that.
0:48.6	That's Yenka Shonebari, a British Nigerian artist who's become known for his colourful
0:53.8	cheeky and thought-provoking sculptures.
0:56.8	I think I found art.
0:59.0	Well, I would say probably school, you know, it was my favourite subject in school.
1:02.6	I was always drawing during my lessons.
1:06.7	And then in Nigeria, when I lived in Lagos as a child, we used to go to artwork shops at
1:11.9	the museum, at the local museum, there in Lagos.
1:14.8	And I wanted to study it, so the shock of my parents, of course, because they would have
1:20.4	preferred me to study law.
1:23.0	We were meant to be kind of professionals, because my siblings were, you know, doctors
1:26.9	and bankers and dentists.
1:29.3	But in London, I saw that actually there was a possibility of making this a career.
	...

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