Safe and legal routes for refugees NOW

'My piece is not talking about old slave ships; it's about what happens today' says Romuald Hazoumé about his multimedia installation 'La Bouche du Roi' (The King's Mouth), now on show at the Rijksmuseum’s Slavery exhibition. Finally, the museum world starts tackling its colonial past and attempts to tell the true story of how the Golden Age of European imperialism came about and flourished.

The Beninese artist shaped over 300 petrol cans into tribal masks and piled them up to reproduce the image of the Brookes slave ship built in 1789 for English anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson. This powerful work evokes all the suffering and the fear of the African slaves on their forced voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. But in carrying the past into the present, this installation is also tragically redolent of the ongoing refugee crisis, which, make no mistake, is an extension of colonialism and its legacies, where millions of people are equally being dehumanised and displaced.

Earlier today, at least 31 human beings, reportedly including 5 children, lost their life drowning in the English Channel after their dinghy capsized. The figure is not confirmed, there could be more bodies that still need to be retrieved. I personally find it impossible to imagine the desperation and terror they must have experienced in those last moments, knowing it was the end. It's heartbreaking.

The British Home Secretary, whose name I won't allow to soil my page, promptly jumped at the opportunity to point her little xenophobic finger at the 'ruthless criminal gangs' profiteering from human trafficking. The reality is that these tragedies are the consequence of the Government's inhumane policies, and that they could be avoided by opening safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. Those in power are complicit.

#romualhazoume #installation #slavery #colonialism #imperialism #refugees #refugeecrisis #refugeeswelcome #saferoutesnow #blog #blogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Romuald Hazoumè

La Bouche du Roi, 1997

Photograph: Albertine Dijkema

Domenico Gnoli at Fondazione Prada, Milan

“I always use simple elements, I don’t want to add or subtract anything. I never even wanted to deform either: I isolate and I represent. Domenico Gnoli (1933-1970)

This superbly displayed show tells the story of the enigma that is hidden in the everyday object. Gnoli’s hugely rewarding canvasses celebrate the mystery of the ordinary, the unsuspected magic of the familiar. The artist, who died at a painfully young 36 years of age, explored reality by zooming in on the detail of these objects - shoes, garments, furniture - they all come to life in a universe of their own.

Deceptively simple in their visual complexity, these paintings have a dreamlike quality that is both reassuring and disquieting. They emanate a controlled tension, leaving the viewer to ask questions as to who inhabits them, for the human presence is all but invisible. Who‘s the man wearing the herringbone suit? Who was sat on that chair? Whose strand of hair is that?

Gnoli’s textures are exquisitely, almost obsessively, rendered. His sophisticated pictorial prowess is perhaps the main protagonist of this extraordinary show where the intimacy of the everyday is elevated by his unique figurative language.

#domenicognoli #fondazioneprada #milan #italianart #painting #figurativepainting #art #artblog #beyondthecanvasblog

Domenico Gnoli, by SIAE 2021

Photos by the author

A museum for change: the Museum of Homelessness, London

From the Wunderkammers of Renaissance to this day, the Global West has a museum for everything. From sex to death, from vaginas to phallic specimens, from lawnmowers to chamber pots, there's a museum for it. It's how we showcase, celebrate, preserve, categorise, educate, shape narratives and tell stories.

The Museum of Homelessness is a charity run by people who have themselves been homeless. I believe this may be one of the very rare instances when a community has taken control of its own narrative to tell the stories of the many invisible people we walk past every day (an estimated 200,000 in the UK alone). By collecting and sharing 'the art, history and culture of homelessness and housing inequality' this social justice museum is hoping to drive change.

It takes surprisingly little to become homeless. It could be a break-up, having to escape an abusive relationship, becoming unemployed, struggling with mental health issues. This escalation is sadly exacerbated by the overall lack of affordable housing. During lockdown, the museum set up a task force to deliver care packs and food to the people forced to live in the streets 24/7. Despite what the Govt and the British media would have you believe, the pandemic is not over and the museum's efforts to support the homeless continue (there is a link on their website if you wanted to make a donation).

I have chosen this painting by British artist James Earley because it poignantly conveys the isolation and vulnerability experienced by rough sleepers, whose life expectancy is 45 for men and 43 for women. This is Amy, guarded by her dog as she sleeps outside London's National Portrait Gallery.

#homelessness #homelessnessmuseum #museum #london #painting #figurativepainting #hyperrealism #blog #artblog #beyondthecanvasblog

James Earley

Mother, 2019

© James Earley