Romuald Hazoumè
Beninese, b.1962
TON PIED MON PIED (YOUR FOOT, MY FOOT), 2011
Mixed media
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Julian and Irma Brody African Art Collection by exchange, 2013.31
Ton pied mon pied is an example of what Hazoumè refers to as his bidons or "jerrican masks." Reminiscent of sculptures that follow in Yoruba and other West African mask traditions, these pieces are constructed from discarded plastic canisters like those used to smuggle gasoline from Nigeria into the Republic of Benin, his home country, a shadow economy that has arisen due to economic necessity. Hazoume uses the form of this found material to mimic facial features, adding black fiber in arrangements reminiscent of historical and contemporary hairstyles. In Ton pied mon pied, the artist quotes historical artforms as he critiques the ways the social and economic realities of colonialism continue to impact the present.
