British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA presents his first major solo exhibition on the African continent with Safiotra [Hybridities] at Fondation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
From April 11, 2025, to February 28, 2026, Fondation H grants Shonibare carte blanche, transforming its 2,200-square-meter space into a vibrant, multi-sensory narrative on hybridity, identity, and postcolonial histories.
The exhibition traces two decades of Shonibare’s groundbreaking practice, anchored by The African Library (2018) – a monumental installation comprising 6,000 books wrapped in Dutch wax print, each embossed with the name of an influential figure in postcolonial Africa. The installation includes an interactive digital component that offers visitors in-depth biographical insights, further emphasizing Shonibare’s commitment to education through art.
Presented alongside this are key sculptural works such as Refugee Astronaut X (2024), created specifically in dialogue with Madagascar’s unique cultural and environmental context. Other highlights include the Hybrid Mask and Hybrid Sculpture series, Decolonised Structures from his recent Serpentine solo exhibition, and also early works like Alien Man on Flying Machine (2011). Together, these pieces construct a layered, thought-provoking narrative on global displacement, fractured histories, and cultural resilience.
Shonibare also curates a complementary exhibition drawn from the Fondation H collection, featuring 20 leading artists from across Africa, including El Anatsui, Ibrahim Mahama, Zanele Muholi, and Madame Zo. This curatorial gesture reinforces the exhibition’s central theme of hybridity, creating a cross-generational dialogue on African identity, nationhood, and memory.
The title Safiotra, a Malagasy word denoting fusion and mixed heritage, provides a conceptual anchor for the exhibition. It captures the essence of Shonibare’s practice—where African and European histories converge, producing works that challenge binaries and provoke critical reflection.
The opening weekend set the tone for the exhibition with the inaugural roundtable, ‘The Voices of Safiotra.’ The event brought together leading voices in art and culture, including Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East in London; Smooth-Ugochukwu C. Nzewi, Curator of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA, New York; Margaux Huille, Director of Fondation H; as well as Hassanein Hiridjee, President of Fondation H. Together, they offered powerful insights into the exhibition’s themes of hybridity, identity, and cross-cultural dialogue. Weekly programming, including lectures, workshops, and inclusive guided tours, ensures accessibility for diverse audiences, from schoolchildren to the hearing-impaired. It also featured artists behind the dynamic performance Beyond Borders, directed by Harivola Rakotondrasoa (@hrakoto_), choreographer and Artistic Director of the D.I.H.Y. project.
A trilingual catalogue will accompany the exhibition in June 2025, featuring essays by Casely-Hayford and Malagasy scholar Professor Tiana Razafindratsimba Dominique, among others.
