Message in a Bottle

Original shot of Shonibare's Fourth Plinth commission.

I’ve been experimenting with creating lomo-style images in Photoshop.

This photo is of a Fourth Plinth commission. Heroic Lord Nelson, permanently and boldly stands atop the first plinth in Trafalgar Square while the fourth plinth has a rotating roster of commissioned artworks. The 2010 piece was ‘Ship in a Bottle’ by artist Yinka Shonibare.

I first saw Shonibare’s work at the National Gallery of Victoria (the feature work was his interpretation of Reaburn’s Portrait of The Reverend Robert Walker Skating) and always find Shonibare’s art insightful, witty and beautiful.

With this piece, the replica of Nelson’s HMS Victory is adorned with gorgeous African textiles for the sails – I interpret it to be a message about past imperialism, present multiculturalism, and an optimistic future.

This snap of the fourth plinth was taken with my CanonG11. While it is a nice enough tourist pic, I think the lomo effect breaths life into it; the sky is more dynamic, the stone is stronger and the fabrics really stand out and ‘pop’.

Edited image of Shonibare's Fourth Plinth commission.