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Yinka Shonibare CBE’s ‘The British Library’ acquired by the Tate

The Tate has acquired British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE’s seminal installation, The British Library. Originally commissioned for HOUSE 2014 and Brighton Festival, The British Library is a celebration of the diversity of the British population, containing 6,328 books bound in ‘Dutch wax print’, some of which have the names of first or second generation immigrants’ inscribed in gold leaf on the spines. Among these are names such as Hans Holbein and Dame Helen Mirren as well as those who opposed immigration. Other books are unmarked, suggesting that the story of immigration in Britain is still being written.