Yinka Shonibare was born and educated in London, and also spent much of his youth in his parents' homeland, Nigeria. In 1977 his work was featured in 'Sensation', the exhibition from the Charles Saatchi collection, at London's Royal Academy.

He has also participated in group exhibitions at Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Spacex Gallery, Exeter, Nordic Museum, Stockholm, National Gallery of Canada and Tabernacle Gallery, London.

Shonibare lives and works in London.

Yinka Shonibare examines the idea of authenticity in relationship to race, history, art history, clothing and identity. The fabric of the mannequin's jacket and dress in Girl/Boy evokes economic and political transactions between Victorian Europe and Africa. Using references to the Victorian colonial era, Shonibare questions what is historical fact or fiction. Shonibare traces the origins of fabrics that are often considered authentically African back to Europe.

These fabrics, which have been adapted by many Africans around the world, were originally Dutch wax-printed fabrics that originated in Indonesia, were transported to Holland through the mills of Manchester, England, and then to markets in Africa, Europe, and North America. The trade routes of the fabric follow the routes of colonial exploration.