THE SWING (AFTER FRAGONARD) 2001

Yinka Shonibare presents us with 'The Swing (After Fragonard),' a three-dimensional recreation of the Rococo masterpiece. The vibrant Dutch wax cotton fabric, a symbol of African identity and trade with Europe, paradoxically adorns an aristocratic figure. The swing itself, a playful emblem of leisure, carries echoes of transgression and flirtation. The motif of the swing reminds us of the constant game of hide-and-seek between visibility and concealment, presence and absence. This echoes through time from classical depictions of Venus on a swing as a symbol of eroticism. Here, however, the figure is headless. It is a potent symbol, a silent scream that transcends cultural boundaries. The beheading evokes powerful, often subconscious, emotional responses. This act mirrors the beheadings of the French Revolution, and we find ourselves confronting the unsettling cyclical nature of history, where pleasure and decadence precede violent upheaval. The work thus evokes a sense of 'unheimlich,' that unsettling sense of the familiar made strange, reminding us that history, like the swing, is in perpetual motion, carrying its symbols through time in a non-linear dance.