Romuald Hazoume - Les Fleurs Du Mal

Romuald Hazoume - Les Fleurs Du Mal at the Gagosian gallery, Athens.

Working across numerous mediums, Hazoume engages with the postcolonial legacies and contemporary realities that define his native Benin. He transforms discarded industrial objects into anthropomorphic sculptures. 

The incisive visual reconfigurations of these works are complemented by the wordplay of the title of the exhibition. The exhibitions's title, Les Fleus du Male, hinges on the distinction between mal (evil - alluding to Charles Baudelaire's 1847 volume of poetry, Les Fleur du Mal) and male (male).  Hazoume remarks: 'Many of the problems in the world today are created by men. The wars and current conflicts are caused by men who do harm to their people. And we are supposed to agree with them, to consider their insults and their bombs as flowers. But they are not flowers'.

The sculptures:

Next to the entrance, a motorbike with glass containers. We could not figure out what this was but we did once we entered the gallery.

ZoCooter, 2019

Scooters are used for trafficking contraband gasoline from neighbouring Nigeria, and this is an economic necessity in Benin. The artist has repurposed this scooter and transformed it, welding on additional metal elements and large glass dame-jeanne vessels of the sort once commonly used to store and sell fuel (since largely replaced by plastic containers). The material contrasts between the brute strength of metal and the fragility of glass serve as a metaphor for this risky trade, and more broadly for life itself.

The photographs:

Hazoume's photographs document the ingenuity and desperation of those who deliver this fuel, precariously stacking as many canisters as possible onto scooters and bicycles. The images complement the sculptures, grounding their economic and ecological ramifications as objects of trade and survival.

The masks:

In the sculptures of singular masks, Hazoume transforms plastic containers and appliance parts into faces; nylon, fishing nets, feathers and additional materials into hair, clothing, and other markers of style and individuality. In doing so, he draws on Yoruba culture and pan-African traditions, evoking their sacred and performative significance while bringing a critical gaze to the enduring global fascination with African mask-making.

The building where the gallery is housed, is an artwork itself - just gorgeous

With some of the artworks you have to look closely - here for instance, it's a plastic water container and multi-coloured netting

The minute I saw these masks I knew I had seen them before, and I also remembered where I had seen them. So, here are some more here

The paintings:

Hazoume's paintings draw their forms from Fa - sacred symbols and systems of knowledge that have been developed over centuries by Yoruba-speaking people. Simple forms that are rich in meaning, these icons are shared by other peoples of West Africa and beyond.

Vibration, 2015

Le Son, 2015

This painting and the one above interpret sonic wavelengths of music within colourful compositions that offer vibrant contemporary interpretations of traditions that are both ancient and alive.

Home Vivant, 2009

The vertical line in the center of the painting represents a living man, standing upright.

The heron is back

and so are we.

 

Lake Vouliagmeni

I have written quite a few times about the lake. I will however, provide some information that I have given before again, for people who don't necessarily want to go to the links I will provide later in this post.

Lake Vouliagmeni (Sunken Lake) is a small brackish-water lake fed by underground currents seeping through the mass of Mount Hymettus but it is also supplied with warm seawater (28-35oC) via an underground channel spreading through a network of flooded caves. Consequently, the water temperature never drops below 18oC (usually ranges around 22-25oC). Furthermore, a freshwater spring reduces its salinity. These are quite unique environmental conditions.

The lagoon formed about 2,000 years ago. It was once a large cavern that collapsed following an earthquake. The outline of the cavern roof can be clearly seen from a distance as you can see from this photograph that was taken from across the bay.

The lake continues deep inside the mountain in an underwater cave never fully explored, as its end seems impossible to trace even by employing sonar detection. Many underwater expeditions have been carried out in order to chart it, a number amateur divers have drowned while trying to explore, as have three professional ones.

Because of its constant warm water temperature and its rich content of various minerals, the lake functions as a spa since the end of the 19th century. It also hosts the only existing population of species of sea anemone, Paranemonia Vouliagmeniensis.

It had been a while since I had come here, so it was very exciting walking down the path at the entrance

First glimpse of the lake from the path

A cave. I used to love swimming towards and under it, but they have cordoned it off now - they are constantly worried about people injuring themselves or worse

Looking right as we walked down the path, a tunnel of water - this could be part of the tunnel that feeds from the sea which is indeed on our right

We reached the car park

and here it is, a few people swimming

It's wonderful swimming here, surrounded by these majestic collapsed rocks

The lounging, sitting area. This is as far as we got in relation to the lake. We had come here to have lunch and not to swim. As the entrance fee is 17 euros (ouch!) for swimming, we decided we did not want to pay it just for a better look, so we moved on to the bar area.

We did want to sit in the sun, but that would have meant no views of the lake

so we sat in the shaded area

that provided some views of the lake 

On the edge there is a sign that gives you daily information about the lake. When I took this photograph the time was 13:42, the temperature was 16oC and the water temperature was 22oC.

While we ate I was watching this woman who looked to be in her middle 80s doing some exercises after her swim. And then she did this. Wow! Such level of fitness. Amazing.

I would finally like to share three links. The first one which you can see here was written while I was reading A Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and I realised that the lake is a lacuna. In the post I juxtapose my impressions of the lake with quotes from this wonderful novel.  This post also provides the best and most comprehensive pictures of the lake.

The second link which you can see here is about an evening we spent at the lake.

The third link, here , is about a play we saw that was performed in a smaller lake, just behind this one, a truly enchanted evening.

Vouliagmeni

A few days before leaving Greece to return to the UK we decided to visit Vouliagmeni (meaning 'sunken'), a seaside suburb which is named after Lake Vouliagmeni. The suburb sits on the southwestern foot of the Hymettus mountain range. It's one of the most prestigious Athenian suburbs and has some of the highest real estate prices in the Balkans.

We started with the western half of the suburb, located between the main avenue that bisects the area and the sea. This area is covered with pine trees and consists of two peninsulas, Megalo and Mikro Kavouri (Big Crab and Little Crab) that feature sandy and pebble beaches in between rocky shores. For this visit we concentrated on Mikro Kavouri and started walking intending to get to its furthest point.

The fire station on our right

and a series of luxury apartment buildings.

A rounded building being built - will it be apartments?

On our left Vouliagmeni pay beach - we used to come here a lot, but have not been for a few years - this is something I intend to remedy as it's lovely swimming here

Perched above the pay beach, Oceanis, a cafeteria, bar and restaurant - again, we used to love coming here - the views of the bay are spectacular. You can read about an evening we spent there here

alas, it's closed down now - don't know why

and this is where we used to sit - you can see how good the views are

We continued on our way

We could see an icon across the road, so went to investigate

It's a Church Orphanage

and this road, inside the gates, leads to it, but we did not go any further

but continued on our way

Until we got to the bit that is called Laimos (Neck) - it's a narrow, sandy isthmus, flanked by a public, 'free', beach on one side and the Astir Palace beach, the fancy beach on the other side. Had I stood on the middle of the road I would have been able to take a photograph which would show the sea on other side of the Laimos, but I did not think of it at the time. Anyway, it's that narrow.

So, on our left the free beach

and views of another Peninsula and the road that eventually leads to Sounion

as well as views of the end of Mikro Kavouri and the Nautical Club area

and on the other side of the Laimos, Astir Palace Beach, the fancy, exclusive beach (entry to the beach costs 20 euros on weekdays and 30 on weekends, as opposed to 5 and 10 respectively on the pay beach which we saw earlier and which we used to go to)

As the beach had not opened for the summer yet, and no entry fee, we decided to go in and have a look

That's the whole area of it - small and exclusive

and it's in the midst of it all... antiquities

The Temple of Apollo Zoster. It was accidentally discovered by children of the Vouliagmeni Orphanage who during their play on the beach, near some remains of walls, found marble bases, column drums and part of an inscription, which mentioned the sanctuary of Apollo Zoster. 

According to legend, when Leto was about to give birth to Apollo and Artenis, she fled writhing in pain to Delos. During her flight she discarded her girdle, which fell on the Mikro Kavouri peninsula. When her son, the god Apollo was born, he picked up the discarded girdle and girdled himself in honour of his mother, and was hence named Zoster (girdle).

We left Astir Beach and continued on our way

From here we could see the collapse in the rock across the bay, where the lake is, and also the point where the Nautical Club is situated

The entrance and car park of the Nautical Club

and a bit further along

looking down, the Nautical Club. The Club admits members and their guests and operates a marina; a waterskiing school; junior and Olympic competition sailing boats and facilities; an open-air, heated swiming pool; memebers' indoor and outdoor lounges; a gym and a restaurant.

A friend of my sister's is a member and we used to come here with her some times. This is the beach she favoured, and I used to enjoy coming here

You can see a post I wrote on this here

We wanted to walk further and maybe get to the marina in the photograph, but our aim was to go to the lake, so we turned around

some action figures stuck to the fence here

good views of Mount Hymettus during our descent

two canooists on the beach

what I did not mention is that the waters here are very shallow for quite a long way, as you can see from this man here

We followed the road we had walked on earlier

and arrived at Athinas Avenue, this gorgeous church across the road from us

a sculpture by Kostis Georgiou on our side of the road

Athinas Avenue is lined with palm trees. It starts from Athens city centre as Vouliagmenis Avenue, turns into Athinas Avenue once it reaches the seashore, and runs parallel to it until Sounion.

The entrance to the pay beach on our right

and a bit further on, we could see the area where we had come from, as well as the pay beach from a different angle

and we continued...

The Nautical Club across the water

Two tavernas here, one after the other

The Winter Swimmers' Club

At this point, we corssed the road, and here it is

Lake Vouliagmeni (Sunken Lake), a very rare geological formation, a lacuna. But, this will be the subject of another post.