Wind Sculpture in Bronze (SG) VII, 2026

Wind Sculpture in Bronze (SG) VII captures billowing cloth, hand-painted in a Dutch wax pattern. The sculpture aims to capture lightness in bronze to make the invisible visible. They create a striking juxtaposition; the heaviness of metal rendered as something weightless and flowing. The idea came from Shonibare’s large-scale public sculpture Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle. Commissioned for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2010, the sculpture was recreation of Horatio Nelson’s 1805 flagship HMS Victory with sails made from Dutch wax print. Considering the issue of migration by sea and the displacement of people around the world, Shonibare remarks, ‘I realised the significance of wind for the diaspora and the enslavement of people. Looking at the sails, I realised that I could develop that into more abstract forms.’