Yinka Shonibare - Refugee Astronaut IX
The future explorer
A lone figure carries a net bulging with belongings – a teapot, a game, a lamp – hastily gathered. The nomadic astronaut is in search of a new home on a safe planet.
With Refugee Astronaut IX (2024) Shonibare imagines a world where rising water levels have left humanity searching for new places to survive. In a world built on endless growth, we often forget that Earth’s resources are finite. But what happens when we reach the limit?
“Aiming for the stars might leave us wrecked in a distant space, like space refugees looking for a familiar place to call home.”
The astronaut becomes a survivor, not an explorer. In this video, Yinka Shonibare explains that the work is both a warning and a mirror: a reminder that migration can be cosmic, but also deeply personal. “We have already arrived,” he seems to suggest. “Earth is home—if we choose to care for it.”
All Directions
This artwork is part of the exhibition All Directions. In this exhibition you discover more about identity and happiness, about crossing borders and being forced to flee, about saying goodbye and coming home. Read more about All Directions.
