La Bouche du Roi: an artwork by Romuald
Hazoumé
22 March – 13 May 2007
Room 35
Exhibition closed
Part of the Atlantic Trade and Identity season
A warning against human greed, exploitation and enslavement,
made from materials including petrol cans, spices, and audio and
video elements.
La Bouche du Roi was created between 1997 and 2005 by Romuald
Hazoumé, an artist from the Republic of Bénin, West Africa.
Literally translated as ‘The Mouth of the King’, the title
refers to a place in Bénin from where many thousands of slaves were
transported to the Americas and the Caribbean. However, La Bouche
du Roi is primarily a warning against all kinds of human greed,
exploitation and enslavement, both historical and contemporary.
A profound and thought-provoking artistic statement, it is made
from a combination of materials, including petrol cans, spices, and
audio and visual elements. The artwork’s arrangement recalls the
famous 18th-century print of the slave ship, the Brookes, which was
used to great effect by Abolitionists.
A recitation of Yoruba, Mahi and Wémé names, the terrible sounds
and smells of a slave ship, and a video of black market
petrol-runners in modern Bénin are other elements which combine to
make La Bouche du Roi a truly remarkable and thought-provoking work
of art in which the connections between past, present and future
are made profoundly real.
Touring exhibition
This exhibition is currently on a tour of the UK as part of the
Partnership UK programme.
Image: La Bouche du Roi, by Romuald
Hazoumé. Photographed by Benedict Johnson