Romuald Hazoumè

Romuald Hazoumè (born 1962, Porto Novo, Republic of Dahomey) is a Yoruba artist and sculptor, from the Republic of Bénin.

He is best known for his work La Bouche du Roi, a reworking of the 1789 image of the slave ship Brookes. La Bouche du Roi was widely exhibited in the United Kingdom as part of the centenary remembrance of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by Parliament. He only uses recycled materials to create his works.

Hazoumè is also known for his mask series, which he started in the mid-1980s. These masks, made from discarded gasoline canisters, resemble those used in traditional African culture and ceremonies. In explaining these works, Hazoumè has said: "I send back to the West that which belongs to them, that is to say, the refuse of consumer society that invades us every day."

Hazoumè is among the artists represented in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi.

Selected exhibitions

Solo 1997: Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie 20, Arnhem 1998: Romuald Hazoumè, Art Gallery of New South Wales, shush, Sydney, Australia 2001: Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Olivier Houg, Lyon 2005: ARTicle 14 - débrouilles-toi, toi-même, October Gallery, London 2005: Romuald Hazoumè Installation Art, CAISA (City of Helsinki Cultural Office), Helsinki, Finland 2006: La Bouche du Roi, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France 2007: La Bouche du Roi: An artwork by Romuald Hazoumè, The British Museum, London, England 2008: La Bouche du Roi, Horniman Museum and Gardens, London 2009: Exit Ball, Aliceday, Brussels, Belgium 2009: Romuald Hazoumè: Made in Porto-Novo, October Gallery, London 2010: Romuald Hazoumè: My Paradise - Made in Porto Novo, Gerisch-Stiftung, Neumünster, Germany 2011: Romuald Hazoumè 2012: Cargoland - October Gallery, London

Group 1992: Out of Africa: Contemporary African Artists from the Pigozzi Collection, Saatchi Gallery, London 1999: Liverpool Biennial: International Festival of Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK 1999: Paradise 8, Exit Art, New York 1999: Spaceship Earth, Art in General, New York 2004–2007: Africa Remix, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa 2007/2008: Why Africa?, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy 2007: From Courage to Freedom - El Anatsui / Romuald Hazoumè / Owusu-Ankomah, October Gallery, London 2007: UN/FAIR TRADE, Die Kunst der Gerechtigkeit, Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria 2008: Angaza Afrika - African Art Now, October Gallery, London 2008: PetrodollART, Galerie Motte et Rouard, Paris, France 2009: Against Exclusion, 3rd biennale of Contemporary Art, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia 2010: African Stories, Marrakech Art Fair], Marrakech 2010/2011: 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2010/2011: The Global Africa Project, MAD – Museum of Arts and Design, New York 2010/2011: The Land Between Us, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK

Awards and prizes 1996: George-Maciunas-Preis, Wiesbaden 2007: Arnold-Bode-Preis, documenta 12, Kassel 2009: 3rd Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow