Yinka Shonibare MBE

Global Underground Map

New commission for cover of London Underground Pocket Tube Map
Available from June 2006

Platform for Art is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare MBE has designed the latest cover of the London Underground pocket Tube map. The work is the fourth in a series of art works commissioned by Platform for Art. London Underground has a long established tradition of working with artists of the highest calibre and since 2000 its Platform for Art programme has been continuing this tradition through many projects around the network.

Yinka Shonibare has produced a map of the world which has been hand drawn using the colours of the Tube map to reflect the diversity of London and the users of London Underground. The countries of the world have been given a subtle shift of identity by implying new relationships between them based on the colours of the tube lines.

The landmasses of the world have been divided into a patchwork by superimposing an invisible grid similar to those created by the lines of latitude and longitude which appear on maps. The resulting grid has been filled in with a random patchwork composed of the colours of the tube lines. This 'global patchwork' also makes reference to the works using printed textiles for which the artist is renowned.

A map, whether of the world, or the Tube network, is a simplified schematic diagram. The map used by the artist is based on the Peters projection (1974) which portrays each country according to its true surface area. Traditional world maps have often been extremely distorted, showing Europe, North America and parts of Asia as much larger than they really are, reflecting the agendas of the commissioners of the maps, the times in which they were produced and the state of the world at the time of their creation. The colouring of maps has also been based on politics - using different colours to identify countries under the same administration.

Yinka Shonibare's Global Underground Map is the artist's vision of London - and London Underground and its users - as a microcosm of the world. London is a city defined by and celebrated for its identity as a truly multicultural and diverse city.

Yinka Shonibare was born in England in 1962 and raised in Nigeria. He currently lives and works in London, and has received international acclaim for his innovative works which include sculpture, painting, photography, and installation. His works, simultaneously innocent and subversive, address a range of cultural and historical issues and, in the process, blur the boundaries of design, ethnography, and contemporary art.

In 2004 he was awarded an MBE and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize for his sculptural installations which use African batik fabrics to subvert conventional readings of cultural identity. He has exhibited widely all over the world.

His art work will appear on the pocket Tube map cover from June 2006, transforming this handy leaflet into an artist's multiple edition.

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