This summer we were in Paris and visit the Louis Vuitton Foundation with the exhibition Art / Afrique. A great source of inspiration!
Inside a section of the exhibition called “The Insiders” we discover Romuald Hazoumé, artist from Benin. His works are inspired by myths and traditions of his homeland and denounce the bad conditions of life and the lack of protection towards the inhabitants of Africa.
His special interest in understanding why his Yoruba ancestors made masks led him to make his kaeletas (masks). His are made with recycled plastic cans, particularly gasoline. Are the same used in the illegal petrol traffic and Hazoumé through his work uses them to denounce the political systems.
Giving them a new existence takes them to the field of art to return them to the West and as he says: “I return to the West what belongs to them, that is, the garbage of the consumer society that invades us daily.”
More about the exhibition at http://bit.ly/2pkDEh8