Romuald Hazoumè was born in 1962 in Porto Novo, Benin, where he lives and works. His work is included in public collections including The British Museum, London; Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva; Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane; Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Neue Galerie, Germany; and The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany. Solo exhibitions include “La Bouche du Roi,” The Menil Collection, Houston (2005, travelled to Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, 2006; and The British Museum, London, ); “ARTicle 14, Romuald Hazoumè,” World Museum, Liverpool (2006); “Romuald Hazoumè: My Paradise—Made in Porto Novo,” Gerisch-Stiftung, Neumünster, Germany (2010); “Romuald Hazoumè,” Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2011); “Romuald Hazoumè: Beninese Solidarity with Endangered Westerners,” Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2013–14); and “Romuald Hazoumè: Dance of the Butterflies,” Manchester Museum, United Kingdom (2015).
Hazoumè has participated in the Biennale de Lyon and Gwangju Biennale (both 2000), as well as the 3rd Biennale of Contemporary Art at the Garage Museum for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2009). He was awarded the Arnold Bode-Prize for his participation in in documenta 12 (2007).