Dandies in Solidarity

Yinka Shonibare CBE, Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 11.00 hours, 1998. Included in the exhibition Mirror's Edge, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 1999–2000. Five C-type prints, dimensions 122 × 183 cm. unframed. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

I write this with a heavy heart precisely because of the gravity of this loss, not only professionally but personally. Some may remember what it was like to be an artist of African origin in the early eighties and early nineties. I saw around me a constant struggle for visibility among Black artists and curators, particularly in Britain through the efforts of Eddie Chambers, Rasheed Araeen, and many others at the time. I, along with many Black artists of my generation, were determined to inscribe ourselves into the mainstream visual arts discourse. My Nigerian upbringing had created a refusal in me to accept the colonial fallacy of Western thinking in relation to African artists. Then, something remarkable happened. In 1995, I attended a lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and it was there I first met Okwui Enwezor.

Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 14.00 hours, 1998. Included in the exhibition Mirror's Edge, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 1999–2000. Five C-type prints, dimensions 122 × 183 cm. unframed. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

Okwui was a dandy. He loved clothes; he was an aesthete. I, too, loved clothes—that is, the political aspect of dandyism, the aspect that challenges expectations, that aspect which says, "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud," in the words of James Brown. Okwui, to put it in colloquial terms, had swagger. Then, behind that swagger was a deep thinker, and he was also from Nigeria, like me. I knew then, at that very first meeting, that this guy was special. I gravitated toward confident, Black men, and Okwui had confidence. I immediately loved his style and defiance. I subsequently learned about Nka journal, his writing, and the monumental and ferocious pace of his curatorial projects. His energy and transformative powers were evident even then; his significant contribution to the discourse on postcolonial art practice remains unparalleled today.

Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 17.00 hours, 1998. Included in the exhibition Mirror's Edge, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 1999–2000. Five C-type prints, dimensions 122 × 183 cm. unframed. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

I had many conversations and many arguments with Okwui. He loved an argument, but they were always rigorous and never unfounded. As an artist, I admit to a contrary instinct, which he sometimes found frustrating. I often felt that as an artist I had to keep a sceptical distance from the theories of which he was most enamoured. Our most productive time was in the early period of both our careers. We worked on shows like Trade Routes: History and Geography, Second Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa, 1997; Mirror's Edge, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 1999–2000; The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002; and then, of course, Documenta11, Kassel, Germany, 2002, a project that completely transformed the trajectory of my career.

Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 19.00 hours, 1998. Included in the exhibition Mirror's Edge, Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, 1999–2000. Five C-type prints, dimensions 122 × 183 cm. unframed. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London

In the current context of Black Lives Matter and the collective awareness and momentum driven by the zeitgeist, I think Okwui would be very proud of his contributions to social justice in the context of culture. In the words of Martin Luther King, "the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward social justice." May I, as a visual artist, express my thoughts visually through some of the works of mine included in Okwui's curatorial projects over a number of years.