The vibrant masks by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA draw from the opera *Un Ballo in Maschera*, blending theatricality with the artist's signature exploration of identity, cultural hybridity, and colonial history. Shonibare's work characteristically challenges fixed notions of origin and belonging, and these masks evoke the masquerade as both literal disguise and metaphor for the performance of race, class, and power. The work invites viewers to question who wears the mask, and what social and historical narratives are concealed or revealed beneath it.