Vodou Tolègba, 2015
Edwige Araba Aplogan is a Beninese visual artist, born in Cotonou, who lives and works between Paris and Cotonou. Trained as a jurist, Edwige Araba Aplogan practiced as a lawyer at the Paris Bar for more than fifteen years before devoting herself entirely to art in 1998.
The practice of Edwige Araba Aplogan combines painting, sculpture, installations, and performances. Since 2010, the work of Edwige Araba Aplogan has been defined by the cycle of “Independence Draperies”, a series of monumental wrappings of historic sites, public buildings, and symbolic spaces, created with African and Diaspora flags. These in situ interventions evoke the memory of slavery, question the real scope of independence, and highlight contemporary struggles for freedom and dignity.
From the wrapping of a 12-meter-long boat in the former slave-trading port of Bordeaux, to the Slave Auction Square in Ouidah, to the façade of Galerie Vallois in Paris, the façade of the PIASA auction house in Paris, and the UNESCO headquarters, the works of Edwige Araba Aplogan transform sites of memory into spaces for universal reflection. They also integrate references to African textile heritage (Abomey appliqué, wax prints, traditional fabrics), weaving together legacy, history, and modernity.
The exhibitions of Edwige Araba Aplogan across Africa, Europe, the United States, and Brazil establish her as a major figure in contemporary Beninese art. Honored as a Knight of the National Order of Social Merit of Benin (2000), Edwige Araba Aplogan is also a critic and author of several essays and articles on contemporary African art.
The practice of Edwige Araba Aplogan combines painting, sculpture, installations, and performances. Since 2010, the work of Edwige Araba Aplogan has been defined by the cycle of “Independence Draperies”, a series of monumental wrappings of historic sites, public buildings, and symbolic spaces, created with African and Diaspora flags. These in situ interventions evoke the memory of slavery, question the real scope of independence, and highlight contemporary struggles for freedom and dignity.
From the wrapping of a 12-meter-long boat in the former slave-trading port of Bordeaux, to the Slave Auction Square in Ouidah, to the façade of Galerie Vallois in Paris, the façade of the PIASA auction house in Paris, and the UNESCO headquarters, the works of Edwige Araba Aplogan transform sites of memory into spaces for universal reflection. They also integrate references to African textile heritage (Abomey appliqué, wax prints, traditional fabrics), weaving together legacy, history, and modernity.
The exhibitions of Edwige Araba Aplogan across Africa, Europe, the United States, and Brazil establish her as a major figure in contemporary Beninese art. Honored as a Knight of the National Order of Social Merit of Benin (2000), Edwige Araba Aplogan is also a critic and author of several essays and articles on contemporary African art.