Focus on The American Library and analyze the Locations.
In 2018, the installation was shown at the Cleveland Public Library's Brett Hall as part of FRONT's An American City program. Shonibare felt that it was appropriate to display the work in libraries because it "is archival in its content and is essentially about mining the stories of immigrants to the United States from across the globe"; it was displayed on a large open bookcase and widely praised by visiting critics. Cleveland Public Library wanted to show the work to initiate discussion on what it called a "timely topic".First displayed in mid-2018, the installation debuted shortly after another 2018 Shonibare work based on migration, Wind Sculpture (SG) I, was installed in the Doris C. Freedman Plaza at Central Park. Later in 2018, The American Library was shown at Davidson College Art Galleries along with Wind Sculpture (SG) I. In a presentation at Davidson College, Shonibare said artists cannot change the world but their art can inspire regular people to pressure politicians.The installation was exhibited at the Speed Art Museum in 2019. It was shown in the 1927 galleries, a building which originally housed a library when the museum was first opened. Accompanying The American Library was a selection of Shonibare's sculptures already in the collections of the Speed and 21c Museum Hotels, which co-presented the exhibition. The sculptures included The Three Graces (2001), The Wanderer (2007), The Age of Enlightenment – Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (2008), The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (2008), and Food Faerie (2010).From 2019 to 2020, it was shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, as the finale piece of the "When Home Won't Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art" exhibition. This exhibition then toured the United States, displaying at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2020 and Stanford University in 2021.
Cleveland Public Library 21c Museum Hotels Davidson College Speed Art Museum Minneapolis Institute of Art Stanford University Doris C. Freedman Plaza Central Park Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston