Trafalgar Square looked lonely without its sea of pigeons. Understandable, it's not warm enough.
Enough nostalgia.
The Fourth Plinth features commissions from artists about the history behind Trafalgar Square. Yinka Shonibare (he had a piece called 'Little Rich Girls' at the Art, Fashion, Identity exhibition) has his ship in a bottle in the honorable position of being on top of the plinth. It was difficult to get a good view of the ship since the plinth is pretty tall, but I was able to catch a few glimpses of colorful sails. We discussed his work as a class--Shonibare used Dutch wax printed fabric, which imitate traditional African patterns. Though the artist says the sails represent the strength of England through its multiculturalism, I don't see the ship in an entirely positive light. England's multiculturalism stems from its imperialism, and I cannot ignore the exploitation and unjust treatment that comes with imperialism. The United States had its share of imperialism not long after its birth. This past semester I learned about the crap that early Asian immigrants in American had to go through, which most people tend to gloss over when they can simply clap and look to the Asian communities in California: 'Look how happy and prosperous they are.' Those communities exist because of the large population of Chinese people brought over for labor; the Chinese villagers who were tricked, 'shanghai-ed' into coming to the United States, told they would be able to earn money for their families, only to find they were stranded in a foreign land with no chance of ever seeing their families again.
Shonibare is well aware of the capitalist interests associated with globalization; his other works depict mannequins dressed in Victorian garb with the Dutch wax printed fabric and some are politically charged. One has several male mannequins seated at a table, and looking as if they are arguing over the division of Africa. Perhaps the artist is mocking the history of that square. That's comforting.
I think the ship in the bottle is my favorite commission to place on the plinth, since it has very deep symbolic meanings and the structure of the ship within the acrylic bottle is undoubtedly very beautiful to look at.
I also liked the idea of the Battenberg cake made of bricks from historic parts of London. It's hard not to notice the range of history in London, made especially apparent in its architecture, so the idea appealed to me. But having cake on a plinth looks odd, even in my mind. Would it still register as cake when it is made from bricks and several times larger than its supermarket counterpart?
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