From April 11th 2025 to February 28th 2026, Fondation H is inviting British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare for a carte blanche entitled Safiotra [Hybridités/Hybridities], his first major exhibition on the African continent. The exhibition occupies 2,200m2 of the Fondation H building in Antananarivo city centre.

The monographic exhibition features works spanning 20 years of Shonibare's career, including The African Library (2018), a work from Fondation H's permanent collection. This monumental installation comprises 6,000 books wrapped in Dutch wax print fabric, each stamped with the name of a personality who shaped post-colonial Africa. The installation is complemented by a digital interface providing historical and biographical information on these personalities.

The exhibition also features a series of iconic sculptures by Yinka Shonibare, such as Refugee Astronaut X (2024), created by the artist in the context of Madagascar. It also includes works from the Hybrid Mask and Hybrid Sculpture series, three works from the Decolonized Structures series from Yinka Shonibare's 2024 solo exhibition at the Serpentine (London), and earlier works such as Alien Man on Flying Machine (2011) and Alien Woman on Flying Machine (2011).

Safiotra [Hybridités/Hybridities] is enhanced by a selection of works from the Fondation H collection, curated by Shonibare. The selection features works by 20 artists, including Kelani Abass (Nigeria), Malika Agueznay (Morocco), Amina Agueznay (Morocco), El Anatsui (Ghana), Leilah Babirye (Uganda) and Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), Safaa Erruas (Morocco), Jems Koko Bi (Côte d'Ivoire), Abdoulaye Konaté (Mali), Ibrahim Mahama (Ghana), Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Ouattara Watts (Côte d'Ivoire/United States) and Madame Zo (Madagascar). The curatorial dialogue between the two exhibitions focuses on the construction of African history since independence.

The Malagasy word ‘safiotra’ translates into the idea of hybridisation, the fusion of two elements or identities that create a new entity while preserving their distinct characteristics. Applied to humans, it refers to a person of mixed heritage who incorporates elements of both origins without being confined to one or the other. This notion extends to objects or ideas born of the convergence of contrasting realities.