Artist who was originally a painter, but later concentrated on sculptural installations and photographs. Shonibare was born in London to Nigerian parents. He was raised in Lagos, Nigeria, where he studied at a strict private school built on the British system in which only perfect English was spoken. His family spent summers in England and when he was 16 he attended an English boarding school. After a three-year struggle with a rare infection that left him temporarily paralysed, he went to Byam Shaw and Goldsmiths’ College of Art. He took part in Byam Shaw School of Art final year show, 1989. Other mixed exhibitions included Black Art New Directions, Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, also 1989; SPACE Studios Open Exhibition, 1993; The Art of African Textiles: Technology, Tradition and Lurex, Barbican Centre, 1995; Painting, Stephen Friedman Gallery, 1996; Pledge Allegiance to A Flag?, London Printworks Trust, 1996–7; and the Saatchi Gallery-related Sensation, RA, 1997.