This photograph is based on Francisco Goya's famous 1799 etching, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, a coded expression of the Spanish artist's critique of his period's political and social vices. Contemporary artist Shonibare, born in Britain to Nigerian parents, reprises this familiar image to explore European history, in particular colonialism. The central figure's clothes are made from fabrics inextricably linked with African identity. Ever since the nineteenth century these brightly colored "Dutch wax prints" are being manufactured in the Netherlands and in England for export to markets of West Africa, where they are still hugely popular.