![RA Family Album, 2016, by Yinka Shonibare RA](https://thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RA-Yinka-Shonibare-Family-Album-25FT.jpg)
RA Family Album, 2016, by Yinka Shonibare RA. Digital print on PVC mesh, commissioned by Royal Academy of Arts, designed by Pentagram
Photography: David Parry
Academician Yinka Shonibare has wrapped the facade of the Royal Academy’s Burlington Gardens entrance with a family portrait spanning the institution’s history.
The 71-metre-wide collage, titled RA Family Album, depicts artists and other figures who have worked with the RA since its founding in 1768. These include black-and-white pictures of Tracey Emin, Richard Rogers, Grayson Perry as well as shots of past monarchs, such as King George V, visiting the site.
![RA Family Album, 2016, by Yinka Shonibare RA](https://thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RA-Yinka-Shonibare-Family-Album-33.jpg)
Photography: David Parry
Shonibare’s work is topped by one of his colourful fabric designs dripping down into the collage below.
‘Before I was a member, I always thought the Royal Academy was quite mysterious,’ says Shonibare. ‘With this work I’m trying to bring the inside outside. It’s traditional and subversive, paint democratically drips on everyone.’
![RA Family Album, 2016, by Yinka Shonibare RA](https://thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RA-Yinka-Shonibare-Family-Album-9.jpg)
Photography: David Parry
The work also disguises the scaffolding on the Burlington Gardens building as the RA undergoes a £50 million revamp, devised by David Chipperfield.
As part of the redevelopment, which will be complete in 2018, there will be new gallery space, as well as a passageway connecting the Academy’s main Burlington House building to its Burlington Gardens entrance.
![RA Family Album, 2016, by Yinka Shonibare RA](https://thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RA-Yinka-Shonibare-Family-Album-20.jpg)
Photography: David Parry