19th Century Kid (Queen Victoria) Shonibare frequently purchases Dutch wax print fabrics at London's Brixton Market for use in his sculptures and installation pieces. Inspired by Indonesian batiks, manufactured in Dutch and English factories, and sold to the West African market from the 19th century into the present, these cloths often feature designs celebrating local political, cultural and sports figures. The artist sees the cloth as both a potent byproduct of the colonial period and--in the wake of Pan-Africanism and 1960s independence movements--a vehicle for post-colonial expressions of racial pride, nationalism and resistance. This work is part of a project in which he featured well-known Victorian figures as children. It playfully addresses the use of cloth borne of colonial trade as a diasporic identity marker and as a reminder of the imperialist agenda that supported the extravagances and mores of Victorian society. By reducing these famous figures to innocent children playing dress-up atop tables, Shonibare further highlights the absurdities of the Victorian culture that gave birth to its accompanying marketplaces and visual imagery.