This limited edition artwork featuring the female 'Aristocrat in Blue' is part of Yinka Shonibare's acclaimed contemporary art series that playfully deconstructs icons of 'Western Power' by de-westernising them through masking their faces with African masks.

The stamp-signed artwork combines lithograph on wove paper with fabric and newspaper collage elements, challenging historical narratives of privilege and colonialism and creating a powerful visual dialogue between European aristocracy and African cultural heritage. Through this artistic intervention, Shonibare invites collectors of contemporary prints to reconsider the origins of wealth and power in the 18th century.

I like to play with the idea of parodying excessive lifestyles, such as those who lived privileged lives in the 18th century – in particular the opulence of the Ancient Regime in France. These lifestyles were enabled by colonisation and the slave trade, and by making visual connections between the origins of their wealth, I like to explore the power relations between both worlds. I have drawn Dogon-style animal masks from Mali, West Africa, to cover the faces of the aristocrats and incorporated actual 'Dutch wax' batik pattern to create a 21st-century cultural hybrid. - Yinka Shonibare CBE, The Hepworth Wakefield, UK