Art Funded by you

La Bouche Du Roi

Romuald Hazoumè, 1997

La Bouche du Roi is a multi-media installation, the main components of which are 304 'masks' made from black plastic petrol cans, a CD of sounds and voices, and a short film detailing the lives of motorcyclists who run petrol between Bénin and Nigeria, a form of modern day slavery. The shape of the installation is based on a famous 18th-century print of the British slave ship, the Brookes, a model of which Wilberforce used in his campaign for abolition. The artist uses cans to suggest the bodies of slaves portrayed in the print.
Romuald Hazoumè, La Bouche du Roi, 1997-2000, British Museum, Art Funded 2006
© Romuald Hazoumé

La Bouche Du Roi is a multi-media installation detailing the lives of motorcyclists who run petrol between Benin and Nigeria, a form of modern day slavery.

The shape of the installation is based on a famous 18th-century print of the British slave ship, the Brookes, a model of which Wilberforce used in his campaign for abolition. The artist uses cans to suggest the bodies of slaves portrayed in the print.

More information

Title of artwork, date

La Bouche Du Roi, 1997

Date supported

2006

Medium and material

Oil drums, plastic, glass, shells, tobacco, fabrics, mirrors, metal

Dimensions

10 x 2.9 m

Grant

30000

Total cost

100000

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