Benin is building a reputation for cultural policy that goes well beyond its borders. After the major exhibition at the presidential palace of the Marina in Cotonou, entitled “Art of Benin yesterday and today: from restitution to revelation”, which was held last year, the art component contemporary with this travel exhibition. Until May 15, 2023, it can be seen at the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat.
The visitor can only agree that this small West African country is home to one of the most dynamic and diverse artistic scene. The vitality of the artists is expressed through a proliferation of techniques and mediums: sculpture, installation, video art, drawing and others.
In the first part, “Recurrence-Variations”, the artists draw inspiration from the divine and the sacred, delve into the roots of the past. The many voodoo deities and their cosmogony, the initiatory symbols invite themselves into the works of messenger artists who make the invisible visible. L’Élévation, a painting by Ludovic Fadaïro, seems to translate an aspiration, as much as a personal questioning.
Wood sculptures, like those of Epaphras Dègnon Toïhen, question oblivion, memory, the living and those of Dominique Gnonnou known as “Kouas” are steeped in Voodoo culture. Yves Apollinaire Pèdé, too, is inspired by voodoo culture, through work on fabric (where patterns and symbols are sewn) inspired by the traditional technique of canvas developed in the royal courts of Abomey. These frescoes recounted the feats of arms of the kings. Like his compatriot, the artist Cyprien Toukoudagba, he was one of the restorers of bas-reliefs in the palaces of Abomey. Cyprien remains in the collective memory of many Beninese as the first contemporary artist to have given a face to the gods.
In the second chapter of this exhibition, “Transition(s)”, the artists explore the links between the past and the present and the woman then takes a predominant place, woman of power, goddess or angel. Dominique Zinkpè, Ishola Akpo, Laeïla Adjovi or Remy Samuz and François Aziangué depict, sculpt or photograph them as warriors, princesses, queens, women of power, angels or goddesses. With a spider as a symbol that weaves a link between past and present, Youss Atacora paints the faces of the heroes who fought for Africa and the black people.
Ponce Zannou’s relief paintings give life to the invisible, to women who are worn out at work, to young people who are embarking on a Western El Dorado. Sènami Donoumassou uses soot as material for traces and imprints in a quest for identity. To illustrate this exhibition, a work by photographer Oké-Agbo was chosen. Sun of Africa, portrait of children, treated like an icon, reminds us of our fragility, our hopes.
During the inauguration, Mehdi Qotbi, president of the National Foundation of Museums of the Kingdom of Morocco (FNM), explained that the idea of ??such an exhibition in Rabat was born following the invitation sent to him Benin’s President Patrice Talon at the inauguration of the “Art of Benin Yesterday and Today” exhibition in Cotonou in February 2022, according to Moroccan news site Le 360 Touched by its beauty, Mehdi Qotbi asks the Beninese head of state, Patrice Talon, to host this exhibition in Morocco. Given the interest of Morocco, the latter accepted that the contemporary part of the exhibition becomes itinerant with Rabat as the first stop, which benefits from its status as “City of Light, African Capital of Culture”. This program runs from June 2022 to May 2023, with a succession of cultural events such as the 27th International Publishing and Book Fair (Siel). The great Mohammed VI museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art was ideal for hosting this exhibition on Beninese contemporary art.