The Facts
Southbank Centre's British Art Show 10 includes three installations by Birmingham-born artist Osman Yousefzada that link colonial trade networks to modern communications infrastructure. Boat II (Floating open Wardian case), Domestic Orchestra (2024), and Boat I (Stacked Alfonso mango tins) feature large black boats carrying tinned mangoes or tropical houseplants, with cables referencing the overlap between colonial shipping routes and today's undersea cables. Busts of technocrats underscore the continuing power of commercial interests, per the artist's research. Yousefzada, born in 1977, studied at SOAS and Cambridge before doctoral work at the Royal College of Art; his first solo show, Being Somewhere Else, was held at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, in 2018.
The Signal
The presentation positions Yousefzada within a national survey at a time when institutions are foregrounding art that addresses colonial legacies and technological power. His transformation of domestic goods—mango tins, plants—into geopolitical metaphors offers collectors a tangible entry point into ongoing debates about trade and data. For those following his career, this institutional exposure, reinforced by the 2024 date of new works, signals a deepening of his practice and likely wider market attention.
- Artists: Osman Yousefzada
- Galleries: Ikon Gallery
- Museums: Southbank Centre, The Box Plymouth
- Locations: London
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