ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ

Romuald Hazoumè is one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists and recipient of the prestigious Arnold Bode Prize at documenta 12. The artist’s astute and sardonically political oeuvre is realised in a diverse range of media, including multimedia installation, sculpture, video, photography and painting. Using the ubiquitous plastic petrol can as his iconic signature, Hazoumè undertakes monumental installations which act as metaphors of African place, history and identity. The petrol canisters bring to mind the Beninese men and women who ferry contraband gasoline between Nigeria and their Beninese consumers.

October Gallery held Hazoume’s first solo exhibition at the gallery in 2005. In 2007, October Gallery collaborated with the British Museum to present the work La Bouche du Roi, a monumental installation, which acted as a powerful tribute to those who suffered the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. It toured to Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, Coventry; and the Horniman Museum (London). Hazoumè’s work has been exhibited in major international galleries and museums across the globe including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; and ICP, New York, USA. In 2018, Hazoumè was included in the Kyotographie International Photography Festival, Kyoto, Japan. Recent exhibitions including his works are Ex-Africa, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France, Expression(s) décoloniale(s) #2, Château des Duc de Bretagne, Musée d’Histoire de Nantes, Nantes, France and Portable Sculpture, Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds, UK.

His works are in prominent public and private collections around the world, including the permanent collections of the British Museum, London, UK; QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA; MoMA, New York, USA; the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland; and Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France.

For sales enquiries please contact: art@octobergallery.co.uk Or call + 44 (0)20 7242 7367
View below for career highlights and works for sale by the artist.

Selected solo exhibitions
2026		My Blue Period, October Gallery, London, UK
2025		Romuald Hazoumè: Les fleurs du mâle, Gagosian, Athens, Greece
2024		Romuald Hazoumè, Art Basel Paris, France with Galerie Magnin, Paris
2022		Romuald Hazoumè: Carnaval, October Gallery, London, UK
2021		Romuald Hazoumè, Magin-A, Paris, France
2019		Romuald Hazoumè, Cheri Samba, FIAC OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
2018		Romuald Hazoumè, Gagosian Gallery, New York City, New York, USA
2016		Romuald Hazoumè: All in the Same Boat, October Gallery, London, UK
		Romuald Hazoumè, Gagosian Le Bourget and Gagosian Gallery Paris, Paris, France
		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie 59pm, Brussels, Belgium
2015		Kunst & Nachhaltigkeit Vol. 4, Romuald Hazoumè, Swiss Mobiliar, Berne, Switzerland
		Arè, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin Romuald Hazoumè: Dance of the Butterflies, Manchester Museum, UK
		Rat-Singer: Second Only to God!, Beyond Sector, Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE with October Gallery, London, UK
2014		The Armory Show, New York, USA, solo booth with October Gallery, London, UK
2013		Romuald Hazoumè: Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
2012		Romuald Hazoumè: Cargoland, October Gallery, London, UK
2011		Romuald Hazoumè, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland, touring to Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, UK
2010		Romuald Hazoumè: My Paradise - Made in Porto- Novo, Herbert-Gerisch-Stiftung, Neumünster, Germany
		Romuald Hazoumè: Exit Ball, Solo Projects ARCOmadrid, Madrid, Spain with Galerie Aliceday, Brussels, Belgium
2009		Romuald Hazoumè: Made in Porto-Novo, October Gallery, London, UK
		Exit Ball, Galerie Aliceday, Brussels, Belgium
		La Bouche du Roi, The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry, UK
2008		La Bouche du Roi, Horniman Museum & Gardens, London, UK
2007		La Bouche du Roi, The British Museum, London; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Merseyside Maritime Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool; Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol; Laing Art Gallery,
		Tyne & Wear Museums, Newcastle, UK
		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
2006		Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
2005		Romuald Hazoumè, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
		ARTicle 14, Débrouille-toi, toi-même!, October Gallery, London; World Museum, Liverpool, UK
		Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
2002		Romuald Hazoumè, Centre Culturel Français, Turin, Italy
2001		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Olivier Houg, Lyon, France
1999		Romuald Hazoumè: La Bouche du Roi, Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou, Benin
		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland
		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie Gut Gasteil, Prigglitz, Austria
		Romuald Hazoumè: Vor-Sicht, Dany Keller Galerie, Munich, Germany; Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany; The Project,
		New York, USA
1998		Breeduit, Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
		Benin/Benin tussen gisteren/morgen,Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
		Romuald Hazoumè, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
1997		Romuald Hazoumè, Galerie 20, Arnhem, Netherlands
1996		Romuald Hazoumè, Gelbe Musik Galerie, Berlin; Dany Keller Galerie, Munich; Firma Harlekin Art, Wiesbaden, Germany
1995		Romuald Hazoumè, Dany Keller Gallery, Munich, Germany
1990-91		Masques Bidons II, National Museum, Accra, Ghana; Institut Français of Lagos, Nigeria; Bamako, Mali; Dakar, Senegal; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany; Museum Forum der Völker - Völkerkundemuseum der Franziskaner, Werl, Germany
1990		Romuald Hazoumè, Afrika Forum, Heidelberg, Germany
1989		Masques Bidons I, Centre Culturel Français, Cotonou; French-Nigerian Cultural Centre, Niamey, Niger

Selected group exhibitions
2026		(Dé)colonisations: des artistes africains interrogent l'histoire, Mémorial de Caen, Caen, France Africa Legacy, Berceau de l'art, Espace Vanderborght, Brussels, Belgium
2024		Transvangarde: Free Style Cipher, October Gallery, London, UK
		Narrative Wisdom and African Arts, Saint Louis Art Museum, USA Picasso. Metamorphosis of the Figure, Mudec - Museo delle Culture, Milan, Italy
2023		Transvangarde: Pushing Boundaries, October Gallery, London, UK
		Prendre corps au monde, Passerelle centre d'art contemporain de Brest, France
		The Stuff of Life \| The Life of Stuff, October Gallery, London, UK Freedom without borders, Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Amstelveen, the Netherlands
		1.5 degrees: Interdependencies of Life, the Cosmos, and Technology, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
		Constellation, Galerie Magnin-A, Paris, France
2022		Nomadic Resonance, October Gallery, London, UK
		Art du Bénin d'hier et d'aujourd'hui: de la restitution à la révélation, Palais de la Marina, Cotonou, Benin
		Haunted Realism, Gagosian, London, UK
		Cosmogony: Zinsou - An African Art Collection, Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Amstelveen, the Netherlands
		Christian Louboutin: the Exhibition[nist]. Chapter II., Grimaldi Forum Monaco, Monaco
		+4000 ans d'art africain, Wall House Museum, Saint-Barthélémy, France
2021		Ex-Africa, Musée du Quai Branly, Jacques Chirac, Paris, France
		OIL. Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
		FIAC Viewing Rooms, with Magnin-A, Paris, France
		Expression(s) décoloniale(s) #2,Chateau des Duc de Bretagne, Musee d’Histoire de Nantes, Nantes, France
		Portable Sculpture, Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds, UK
		Frieze New York, Online with October Gallery, London, UK
		Slavery: Ten True Stories, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2020		Résonances, Fondation Opale, Crans-Montana, Switzerland
		Alpha Crucis: African Contemporary Art, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
		Atmospheres: Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
2019		Life Through Extraordinary Mirrors, October Gallery, London, UK
		Dream No Small Dream: Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
		Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
		1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK, with October Gallery, London, UK
		1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK
2018		Kyotographie, Kyoto, Japan
		Traces, Tracks & Pathways, MECA, Maine, USA
		Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
		African Passions, Palais Cadava, Evora, Portugal
		EXPO Chicago, Chicago, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK Everyday Africa!, Zinsou Foundation, Cotonou, Benin
		From Africa to the Americas, Face-to-face Picasso, Past and Present, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada
2017		249th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
		Essentiel Paysage, Musée d’Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, Morocco 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK with October Gallery, London, UK
		The Eye in the Mask, Socle du Monde Biennale, Herning, Denmark
		Art/Africa; le nouvel atelier, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
		Open Museum #4 Alain Passard, Musée des beaux-Arts, Lille, France
		The Eye in the Mask, Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, Denmark
		Frieze New York, New York, USA, with October Gallery, London, UK
		Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France, with October Gallery, London, UK
		Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
		AFRICA; Raccontare un mondo, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan, Italy
		We All Love Art, Schlachthaus.fresh&fine art, SevenStarGallery, Berlin, Germany
2016		Essential Landscape, Al Maaden Art Gallery, Centre of Contemporary African Art, Marrakesh, Morocc
		Dans le regard de l’autre, Le Carreau, Cergy, France
		1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, USA
		Independent Brussels 2016, Brussels, Belgium
2015		Picasso Mania, Grand Palais, Paris, France
		FIAC OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
		Frestas - Art Triennial, São Paulo, Brazil
		1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK; New York, USA
		Folk Art Africain?, FRAC, Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France
		Global Imaginations, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, Netherlands
		Double Take: African Innovations, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
2014		Interwoven Histories, October Gallery, London, UK
		Art from Elsewhere: International Contemporary Art from UK Galleries, Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Glasgow, UK
		Interchange Junctions, Howick Place, London, UK
		FIAC-OFFICIELLE, Paris, France
		1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK
		Here Africa, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde, Genève, Switzerland
		MASKS, JGM Galerie, Paris, France
		BIACI: International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Cartagena, Colombia
		Post-Picasso: Contemporary Reactions, Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain
		Art Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
2013		Macht. Wahn. Vision. Museum Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany
		1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK
		Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, France
		Sleepless Night (as part of the Tribute exhibition), Institut Français of Benin, Cotonou, Benin
		Focus on the Collection, Le Musée, Fondation Zinsou, Ouidah, Benin
		Initiés – Masques de Romuald Hazoumè, Museé Dapper, Paris, France
		West to West, Städtische Galerie, Bremen, Germany
		Material Conceptualism: The Comfort of Things, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin, Germany
		ARTZUID, International Sculpture Route, Amsterdam, Netherlands
		Water Cargo, Art Dubai, UAE with October Gallery, London, UK
		Metropolis, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK
		Vom Eigensinn der Dinge, KAI 10, Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany
2012		The Progress of Love, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
		Sculpture is Everything: Contemporary Works from the Collection, QAGOMA, Brisbane, Australia
		Moving Into Space: Football and Art in West Africa, National Football Museum, Manchester, UK
		African Cosmos: Stellar Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., touring to Newark Museum, 2013, New Jersey, USA
		We Face Forward, Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
		Beneath a Petroliferous Moon, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
		Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea
		Afrovision – Contemporary Art from Africa, Baku Museum of Modern Art, Baku, Azerbaija
		Africa/Africa, Abbey of Saint-André, Contemporary Art Centre, Meymac, France
		At Eye Level: Masterpieces of Medieval and Modern Art, Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany
2011		ARS 11, Kiasma – Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
		The Global Africa Project, MAD – Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
		L’Afrique à Paris, with Kura Shomali, Chéri Samba, Galerie Hussenot & Magnin-A, Paris, France
		Environment and Object - Recent African Art, Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York; Virginia Commonwealth University, Virgina; Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont , USA
		Art Paris, Just Art!, Grand Palais, Paris, France
		Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
2010		21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Queensland Art Gallery \| Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
		The Global Africa Project, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
		Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity, The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
		The Land Between Us, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
		African Stories, Marrakech Art Fair with Magnin-A, Marrakech, Morocco
		Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
		Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2009		AFRICA? Una nuova storia, Complesso del Vittoriano (Jean Pigozzi Collection), Rome, Italy
		3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art: Against Exclusion, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia
		Africa Arte Contemporanea, Four Seasons Hotel and Galerie JZ Art Trading, Milan, Italy
		PERSONA. Ritual Masks and Contemporary Art, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
		Bénin 2059, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
		Who’s Betting on the 47?, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany
		Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
		Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2008		U-TURN, Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
		Angaza Afrika: African Art Now, October Gallery, London, UK
		PetrodollART, Galerie Motte et Rouard, Paris, France
		Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with October Gallery, London, UK
		Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2007		Why Africa?, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy
		documenta 12, Kassel, Germany
		UN/FAIR TRADE. Die Kunst der Gerechtigkeit, Neue Galerie, Graz, Switzerland
		Uncomfortable Truths: The Shadow of Slave Trading on Contemporary Art & Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Salford; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK
		Masques rituels et contemporains, Fondation Jean- Paul Blachère, Apt, France
		From Courage to Freedom, October Gallery, London, UK
2006		100% Africa, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
		De ida y vuelta: África, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
		Snap Judgements. New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, International Center of Photography, New York; Miami Art Central; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2005		African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
2004 – 2007		Africa Remix, Düsseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg,
		South Africa
2003		Armour: The Fortification of Man, Biennial of KunstFort Asperen, Acquoy, Netherlands
		Magic Markers: Objects of Transformation, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA; Musée Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland; Musée de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains (MUDAC), Lausanne, Switzerland
		Correspondances Afriques, Iwalewa-Haus, Afrikazentrum der Universität Bayreuth,
		Bayreuth, Germany
2002		African Market, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
		40 Jahre: Fluxus und die Folgen, Kunstsommer Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany
2001		TRADE, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
		Lost & Found, Apex Art Curatorial Program, New York, USA
		XXXV Prix International d’art contemporain de Monte Carlo, Salle des Arts, Monte Carlo, Monaco
		Œil pour œil, Le Rectangle-Centre d’art contemporain, Lyon, France
2000		Sieben Hügel, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
		Romuald Hazoumè, Paul Pfeiffer, Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, USA
		Partage d’exotismes, 5th Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
		Man + Space, Gwangju Biennale, South Kore
		D’sign, Galerie Dany Keller, Munich, Germany
		Dinge in der Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
		Construction in Process VII: This Earth Is a Flower, The International Artists’ Museum, Bydgoszcz, Poland
		Art Basel 2000, Galerie Art & Public, Basel, Switzerland
1999		Spaceship Earth, Art in General, New York, USA
		Paradise 8, Exit Art, New York, USA
		Liverpool Biennial: International Festival of Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK
1992		Out of Africa: Contemporary African Artists from the Pigozzi Collection, Saatchi Gallery, London

Awards and Prizes
2009		3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2007		Arnold-Bode-Preis,
		documenta 12, Kassel
1996		George-Maciunas-Preis, Wiesbaden

Collections
		Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
		Barbier Muller Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
		Black Gold Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
		The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
		The British Museum, London, UK
		C.A.A.C. - The Jean Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
		Collection Agnès b, Paris, France
		Collection David Bowie, UK
		Desmoines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
		The Robert Devereux Collection, London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya
		Die Mobiliar Art Collection, Berne, Switzerland
		Emdash Foundation, London, UK
		Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
		Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin
		The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
		Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA
		Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
		Mount Holyoke College of Art Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA
		Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
		Queensland Art Gallery \| Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
		Museumslandschaft Hessen, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany
		National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA
		Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
		The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall and Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham, UK
		Permanent Collection of the US Embassy, Cotonou, Benin, Art in Embasssies, US Department of State
		Queensland Art Gallery \| Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
		Sin Jina Collection, London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya
		Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA
		Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, USA
		The Walther Collection, Neu Ulm, Ohio, USA

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