Born 1962 in Porto-Novo, Benin
Lives and works in Porto-Novo and Cotonou, Benin
Romuald Hazoumè is one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists and recipient of the prestigious Arnold Bode Prize at documenta 12. The artist’s astute and sardonically political oeuvre is realised in a diverse range of media, including multi-media installation, sculpture, video, photography and painting. Using the ubiquitous plastic petrol can as his iconic signature, Hazoumè undertakes monumental installations act as metaphors of African place, history and identity. The petrol canisters bring to mind the Beninese men and women who ferry contraband gasoline between Nigeria and their Beninese consumers.
Hazoumè’s work has been exhibited in major international galleries and museums across the globe including the British Museum, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; ICP, New York and the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris. His works are in prominent public and private collections around the world, including the permanent collections of the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; MoMA, New York and Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.