Cotonou, Benin — For centuries his ancestors ruled over powerful kingdoms in what is now Benin, but Euloges Ahanzo Gullere first saw his great-great-great-grandfather’s throne was a museum in Paris ten years ago.
‘How did you get here?
The throne is back in Benin after France handed back 26 artifacts last year. On a recent morning, Ahanhanzo his Mr. Gurrele, he said, sat barefoot before him, bowing in the same manner as subjects do before the king.
Ahanhanzo Gulere, a 45-year-old sculptor and one of thousands of descendants of King Gulere, who ruled the kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century, said the return of the work has inspired the people of Benin to explore their art. He said he expects to be historical and artistic heritage.
“The artistic awakening of our population has been switched off from the end of the 19th century to 2022,” he said. “We are now waking up.”
In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to return looted works of art, saying “African heritage cannot be a prisoner of European museums”. , the debris came back little by little.
Now, according to art historians, they are slowly becoming a steady stream, and countries in West and Central Africa are trying to figure out how best to display them and how they have never heard of them, much less seen them. I’m looking for a way to educate the public who have never done it before.
The government of Benin, a West African nation of 12 million people, believes it has found the right path.
More than 200,000 people visited the free art exhibition at the presidential palace, 90% of them Beninese, according to the government.
Children didn’t want to miss what their friends were talking about at school, so they asked their parents to bring them. I’ve been Some families stand in line for half a day before getting a glimpse.
exhibition, “Benin Art from Yesterday to Today: From Return to Revelation,” also seized the chance to expose the crowd to current artists. It showcases his 34 contemporary artists from Benin, enhancing his place on the map of West Africa’s thriving contemporary art scene.
“All artists dream of posterity, so we are honored to be next to them,” said Julien Sinzogan, one of the artists on display, of the artifacts. “We also became part of the descendants.”
Following the favorable reception of the first event in spring, Reopened last monthOn the morning of reopening, Marcus Hounsou, a 13-year-old boy of French Beninese who visited France for the summer, walked away with a smartphone full of photos and lingering thoughts that he needed time to deal. “I didn’t know any of these artists,” he said. “I know a lot of French and Americans.”
The antiquities, looted by French colonial forces when they looted King Behanzan’s palace in 1892, were on display at the Quai Branly museum in Paris until last year. They include wooden statues of Kings Behanzan and Grele, depicted as half-man, half-beast. two thrones; four painted gates from Behangjin’s palace;
Almost all of Africa’s ancient art heritage remains in Europe and America, according to French historian Benedict Savoy, co-author of the report on the handover. But from Germany to Nigeria. From Belgium to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Countries in Europe and Africa, from France to Senegal, Ivory Coast to Benin, are now working to make reparations more systematic.
Last year’s return of 26 artifacts was the largest action between a former European colonial power and an African country since President Macron’s pledge in 2017.
But Benin authorities have repeatedly said they want more.
“‘At the time we looted the booty,’ Jean-Michel Abimbola, Benin’s Minister of Culture, said in an interview.
Abimbola said it makes little sense for Benin to claim all of the Quai Branly museum’s collection – more than 3,500 – as its own. “We want the most iconic pieces that speak to our souls,” Abimbola said.
Ahanzo Gurelle, a descendant of the King, is also at the presidential palace. one of the contemporary artists On display. In the room adjacent to the throne, his own terracotta sculptures open the contemporary part of the exhibition. This is the first time his work has been exhibited at the Benin institution.
However, he predicted that even if the artifact returned, it wouldn’t be possible to fill the gaps in people’s knowledge of the past overnight.
“Our children don’t know our history,” said the artist, adding that Benin is now facing challenges in educating its public about its past, which has been robbed for over a century and kept in European museums. I explained the issue I was having. “Even when I am asked about my ancestors, there are many things I don’t know.”
A piece of that history is now presented by a contemporary artist not far from the Presidential Palace. Along the harbor of Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, a government-funded street art wall stretches for nearly 800 meters and features ornate murals and graffiti celebrating Benin’s past and hopes for the future.
One recent evening, the artist was busy finishing a painting. voodoo shrine maiden, a nearby teenager posed in front of a mural depicting the Amazons of the Kingdom of Dahomey. was drawn. When completed next year, this wall he aims to be the world’s longest street art at nearly a mile.
Benin’s President Patrice Talon, a former businessman elected in 2016, has turned the model of democracy into an oppressive state that suppresses political opposition, critics say. prosecute a journalist — vowed to capitalize on patriotism through artistic expression as long as it depicted the glorious past or present.
Taron, an art lover himself, has turned over two giant walls of the presidential palace’s exhibition space to 32-year-old muralist Drusil Fanibo, according to advisers.The Amazonian fighter she painted towers above the contemporary artwork towards the end of the exhibition (and Mr. Taron took office Statue 98 feet tall Amazon warriors towering over the city).
Despite the overall success of the exhibition, some say it is not enough to get Beninet people to interact with the relics. Exhibition descriptions and free guided tours are in French only and not in the local language Fon.
“We need to think about visitors from Africa, those who don’t speak French or who come from Togo, Nigeria or Burkina Faso,” said a public university.
When the exhibition closes at the end of August, the objects will move to Ouidah, a former slave port, where authorities are building a new slave museum.
The government is also building three additional museums. One of his is intended to promote the work of contemporary artists like Mr. Ahahan Zogrele.
On a recent afternoon, in his workshop in the backyard of his home in the working-class neighborhood of Cotonou, Ahanhanzo Gurrele molded a clay sculpture of a farmer holding a hoe. While he was at work, his friends and acquaintances stopped by with him for a beer or soda.
Twenty similar sculptures followed, some commissioned by one of the museums under construction. Looking over some of his work in the small storage room, there was a message on the wall that read, “Clay helps you find out why.”
Ahanzo Glèlè, a father of four, says his children are more interested in cartoons than his country’s history and his sculptures, but he is determined to change that, partly because his ancestors’ belongings have been brought back. He said he was determined.
“I rarely talk to them about my art and its influences,” he said. “I need to do it more.”