
Entitled ‘Code Noir’, this new series delves deeper into Benin’s turbulent slave trade history. Code Noir was a French colonial decree and guide to managing slaves. The decree suggested punishments for crimes such as attempted escape, advocated extreme discipline over slaves and legitimized corporal punishment. Agbodjelou’s hometown of Porto-Novo was originally developed as a Portuguese port for exporting slaves, a very important part of Benin's history during which over 12 million slaves left the country's shores. Today it feels like a city of the past, the colonial buildings loaded with faded grandeur and dilapidated interiors. Many of the slaves who returned to Africa, particularly from Brazil, settled in Porto-Novo following their emancipation. The returned slaves were regarded as smart, tough and resourceful as they had survived such hardship. Many went on to become successful business people, and are still talked of today.
Agbodjelou takes this local community of descendants of slaves as a focus for his portraits, telling a visual narrative of Africa and its colonization. The subjects in these images are shot inside their family homes. The framing is intimate as they present us with old black and white photographs of their ancestors, both historical and deeply personal. Agbodjelou’s carefully selected locations around Porto-Novo form snapshots from a forgotten past; a basketball court lies dormant over the site of a former child slave market, an overgrown marshland and fishing village once a bustling slave export dock, the ruins of an old slave merchant’s home, empty passageways that marked the road of no return and the brutal memorial reliefs in the town centre. Leonce's new work is an insider’s glimpse of Porto-Novo, a sensitive and insightful treatment of its citizens and complex history.
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (b.1965, Porto-Novo, Benin)
Borderlands, 2012
artist origin
provenance
current location
exhibitions
multiple
Aboudia
—Untitled
2013Aboudia
—Untitled
2011Aboudia
—Untitled
2012Aboudia
—Untitled
2014Igshaan Adams
—Plate 7
2014Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled (Demoiselles de Porto-Noyo series)
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled triptych (Demoiselles de Porto-Novo series)
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Borderlands
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled Triptych (Code Noir)
2014El Anatsui
—Adinsibuli Stood Tall
1995Kader Attia
—The Repair
2012Armand Boua
—Untitled
2014Armand Boua
—Untitled
2014Kudzanai Chiurai
—Look Mom, No Hands
2011Mounir Fatmi
—The Awakening Day
2011David Goldblatt
—The Ruins of Shareworld and FNB Soccer City Stadium.
2009Isabelle Grobler
—the cannibal's congress: founding ideology
2015Isabelle Grobler
—The Cannibal's Congress: father tongue
2015Isabelle Grobler
—the cannibal’s congress: mother tongue
2015Dan Halter
—Rifugiata Mappa del Mondo
2013Romuald Hazoumè
—Ma poule
2013Romuald Hazoumè
—Mon Gouvernement
1997Romuald Hazoumè
—Taillonné
2015Pieter Hugo
—Alhaji Hassan with Ajasco, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria
2007Pieter Hugo
—Animal handler with Ajasco, Lagos, Nigeria
2007Eddy Kamuanga
—Influence
2016William Kentridge
—Anti-Entropy
2011William Kentridge
—Anti Mercator Video
2011Abdoulaye Konate
—Tolérance Religieuse
2013Gonçalo Mabunda
—Untitled
Completed between 2003-2005Gonçalo Mabunda
—O Throno em Dois Tempos
2015Mario Macilau
—The Twelve Tribes
2016Turiya Magadlela
—He is reborn into you
2012Turiya Magadlela
—Identify Michael
2012Turiya Magadlela
—She went all around the world and came back here #2
2012Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse
—Doors, Ponte City (film)
2010Aime Mpane
—12 Portraits
2011Richard Mudariki
—Black Economic Empowerment
2014Richard Mudariki
—The New Church
2014Terrence Musekiwa
—Black and White
2015Terrence Musekiwa
—Green Mask
2015Terrence Musekiwa
—Murimi Wanhasi (Zim Farmer)
2015Terrence Musekiwa
—Mask in Trance
2016Terrence Musekiwa
—Germinating
2016Terrence Musekiwa
—Head from Africa
2016Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo
—Glamorous And Fairy
2014Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo
—EGO
2013Boris Nzebo
—Construction du milles-pattes
2008 - 2009Boris Nzebo
—Olive L'infirmiere
2014Boris Nzebo
—La Passion D'Adeline
2014Athi-Patra Ruga
—The Exile According to the Elder
2014Duhirwe Rushemeza
—Return of the Makaned
2013Duhirwe Rushemeza
—Untitled (Imigongo V - White and Brown)
2013Duhirwe Rushemeza
—Mr. Wind-Up Bird in Yellow
2013Duhirwe Rushemeza
—Red Ochre Nude
2013Pascale Marthine Tayou
—Classroom E
2013Pascale Marthine Tayou
—Dream I
2013
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled (Demoiselles de Porto-Noyo series)
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled triptych (Demoiselles de Porto-Novo series)
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Borderlands
2012Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
—Untitled Triptych (Code Noir)
2014Halim Al Karim
—Hidden Goddess #4
2009Sookoon Ang
—Exorcise Me (IV)
2013Sookoon Ang
—Exorcise Me (V)
2013Sookoon Ang
—Exorcise Me (IX)
2013Ilit Azoulay
—Room #8
2011Atul Bhalla
—Submerged Again
2005Sergey Bratkov
—The Best
2010Marcos Chaves
—Untitled / Series "Holes"
2008Marcos Chaves
—Untitled / Series "Holes"
2008Marcos Chaves
—Untitled / Series "Holes"
2008Nicola Costantino
—Still Life/The Dinner
2008Nicola Costantino
—After Berni
2008Nicola Costantino
—‘Winged Nicola’ inspired by Bacon
2010Yang Fudong
—International Hotel 10
2010Yang Fudong
—Yeijang/The Nightman Cometh 1
2011David Goldblatt
—The Ruins of Shareworld and FNB Soccer City Stadium.
2009Pieter Hugo
—Alhaji Hassan with Ajasco, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria
2007Pieter Hugo
—Animal handler with Ajasco, Lagos, Nigeria
2007Jitish Kallat
—The Cry Of Gland
2010Sze Tsung Leong
—Looking towards Chongqing
2003Mario Macilau
—The Twelve Tribes
2016Vik Muniz
—Jackie (from Pictures of Diamond)
2005Vik Muniz
—After Barry Le Va, 1969 (from Pictures of Dust)
2000Vik Muniz
—Pictures of Garbage
2008-11Vik Muniz
—Sozhina (Otahi), after Paul Gauguin, Alone (from Pictures of Pigment)
2006Vik Muniz
—Man and Puppet, after Edgar Degas
2013Youssef Nabil
—Amani by Window, Cairo
1993Michal Rovner
—Crosses
1999Michal Rovner
—One Person Game Against Nature I, #6
1992-93Michal Rovner
—One Person Game Against Nature I, #40
1992-93Michal Rovner
—One Person Game Against Nature I, #3
1992-93Timur Si-Qin
—Truth by Peace Ⅱ
2015Timur Si-Qin
—Truth by Peace Ⅲ
2015Sadegh Tirafkan
—Human Tapestry # 8
2009-2010Sadegh Tirafkan
—Human Tapestry # 7
2009Amon Yariv
—Man with Broken Face
2011Amon Yariv
—Man with Broken Face 2
2011Amon Yariv
—Barn Owl
2011Maya Zack
—Living Room #1
2009Maya Zack
—Living Room #2
2009Maya Zack
—Living Room #3
2009Maya Zack
—Living Room #4
2009Xu Zhen (MadeIn Company)
—"In mass exercise, the greater the conflict between theory and reality, the stronger its eagerness to impose beliefs on others"
2010