A new temporary display at the Horniman sheds light on human exploitation ancient and modern.
La Bouche du Roi is a large art work, dominating the floor of the Horniman Museum’s temporary exhibition area. It’s made up of over 300 plastic petrol cans from west Africa, laid flat on the floor and arranged in the shape of an 18th-century slave ship.
Each can represents one person on the ship, being traded and then transported across the Atlantic – from west Africa to the new world. The tops of the cans look quite like faces, with open, gaping mouths.
But modern petrol cans and 200-year-old slave ships. What do they have in common?
The visual artist Romuald Hazoumé – you may remember him for his sculpture in the V&A garden a few years ago – has brought together these plastic cans, and a small collection of other objects, to illustrate to us the continuation of the story of human exploitation in the 21st-century. Each of these petrol cans not only symbolises a slave traded across the Atlantic, but also a modern-day victim of greed and human exploitation.
The accompanying film showing motorcyclists – young men – who transport petrol illegally between the borders of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. They carry plastic petrol cans of the type used here as masks. These containers are expanded over naked flames to make them as large as possible – a process that weakens them and leads to fatal explosions. Like slaves, the plastic cans are worked to breaking point, and then discarded.
This is all very serious stuff. But this piece leaves the visitor reflective, rather than despondent and depressed. The contexts behind both of these tragic and striking stories of exploitation are fully unpacked with excellent text and images. The background information really helps to explain what each of the constituent parts of the art work mean.
It sometimes gets to me that we so rarely have the opportunity to hear modern artists talking about their work. Perhaps that’s why I don’t understand modern art very well. The presence of Hazoumé in the space on a short video loop gives him the opportunity to explain his thoughts behind the piece. Again, it’s more context to help the visitor understand the art work.
I imagine that if this piece were shown at Tate it would be placed in the middle of a room with little explanation or context – perhaps just a short label. Visitors would walk away getting very little from the experience. The Horniman, however, have told a strong narrative story here, enabling everyone to understand and reflect upon this moving and clever piece of contemporary art. Hats off to them.
Entry to La Bouche du Roi is free. It’s on until 1 March 2009.
Image: with thanks to tortipede on flickr, with CCL.
