Interview with Romuald Hazoumè | "Alpha Crucis – Contemporary African Art"

Interview with Romuald Hazoumè in conjunction with the exhibition "Alpha Crucis – Contemporary African Art". Romuald Hazoumè was born in Porto-Novo, Benin, in 1962, and still lives and works there. His installations, photographs and mask-like sculptures are inspired by both local Yoruba rituals and the history of Benin, which reflects the impact of the slave trade and the period of colonisation. In the mid-1980s Hazoumè began working on his iconic series of masks made of 50-litre plastic jerry cans, originally used to smuggle petrol into Benin from neighbouring Nigeria. This is a very dangerous activity, so the plastic cans are often painted in colours that are considered lucky in Yoruba tradition. The series can be viewed as a commentary on how African masks have been collected and exhibited in the Western world as museum objects meant for aesthetic perusal, detached from their original ritual use – objects that served to inspire key modernist artists such as Pablo Picasso. The use of plastic jerry cans as a material for creating masks can also imply a criticism of the introduction of Western capitalism into Benin, with the significant consequences this had for the society and local culture.