Graffiti murals bring Benin's walls to life with treasures from past

Street art highlights recent achievements in the West African country

Beninese artist Romario Agbo-Koffi, also known as Dr Mario, poses for a portrait at the Effet Graff festival in Cotonou. All photos: AFP

Work by Beninese artist Lionel Attere, also known as Lionel Davinci, portraying the Guelede masks of Benin.

Beninese graffiti artist Drusille Fagnibo is one of 26 artists participating in Effet Graff.

Another piece by Dr Mario. The festival's aim is to achieve one of the longest murals in the world.

Lionel Davinci in front of his artwork.

Brazilian artist Dos Santos Edgar Bernado, also known as Ed-mun.

Beninese artist Laurenson Djihouessi, also known as Mr Stone, poses with a spray can in hand at the site of Effet Graff festival, whose objective is to achieve one of the longest murals in the world, in Cotonou on May 18, 2022. - 26 Beninese and international graffiti artists are taking part in the eighth edition of the Effet Graff festival in Cotonou, with the ambition of creating one of the largest murals in the world that traces the history and culture of Benin. The fresco pays tribute in particular to the 26 Beninese treasures looted by French colonial troops and returned to Benin in November 2021, and the theme of this edition is a "new Benin". (Photo by YANICK FOLLY / AFP)

Work by Ed-mun depicting one of the 26 royal treasures returned by France to Benin.

Dr Mario gets creative.

A general view of one of the works produced by the Togolese artist Sitou Matthia, as part of the Effet Graff festival, whose objective is to achieve one of the longest murals in the world, in Cotonou on May 18, 2022. - 26 Beninese and international graffiti artists are taking part in the eighth edition of the Effet Graff festival in Cotonou, with the ambition of creating one of the largest murals in the world that traces the history and culture of Benin. The fresco pays tribute in particular to the 26 Beninese treasures looted by French colonial troops and returned to Benin in November 2021, and the theme of this edition is a "new Benin". (Photo by YANICK FOLLY / AFP)

Work by Lionel Davinci.

Ed-mun adds the finishing touches to his piece of art.

On a blue and yellow background, a graffiti artist retouches a spray-painted image of the half-man, half-shark statue of king Behanzin, one of the stolen treasures returned to Benin by France late last year.

The image is only one by 26 local and international graffiti artists who have created a mural depicting Benin's history and culture, stretching more than one kilometre, along a wall in Benin's main city of Cotonou.

Their objective is to eventually create the largest mural fresco in the world as part of a festival under the theme of "New Benin".

"To create the Benin of the future, we must keep the Benin of the past in our sight," said Laurenson Djihouessi, known by his artist name Mr Stone, who is the festival promoter.

Beninese artist Laurenson Djihouessi, known as Mr Stone. AFP

Many of the graffiti artists have chosen to represent the restored treasures, which were stolen by French colonial forces and returned to Cotonou this year after negotiations with Paris.

The artefacts have been on display for the first time in Benin since February in a historical exhibition at the presidential palace, located a few hundred metres from the mural.

"There, the audience comes to the art, but here the art comes to the audience," said Stone, whose images pay homage to the Amazons, the elite, all-female soldiers of the kingdom of Dahomey, one of Benin's kingdoms before French colonisation.

The artist said he wanted to place the Beninese woman "at the heart of action and development", for them to be the "Amazon of modern times".

But it is not only the royal history of Benin's past that is painted on the fresco that attracts dozens of passers-by.

Supported by the Claudine Talon Foundation, run by the first lady of Benin, and the Ministry of Culture, the wall also highlights recent achievements in the West African country.

Brazilian artist Edgar Bernado Dos Santos, also known as Ed-mun, paints with a brush at the Effet Graff festival in Benin. AFP

There are cranes symbolising the reform of Cotonou's port and agricultural machinery, a reference to the modernisation of the agricultural sector.

Images of roads are meant to show part of the infrastructure projects touted by President Patrice Talon as one of his successes.

Since his first election in 2015, Talon has launched dozens of projects in what he calls a campaign to set his nation on the path to development.

While the economy may have been modernised, Benin's opposition says the country's democracy has also suffered under Talon's rule.

On her part of the wall, female artist Drusille Fagnibo also painted the building of Economic Crimes and Terrorism Court, known as Criet.

Critics say the special court, set up in 2016 in a bid to end the impunity among the political class, is used as a political weapon by the government to target opponents.

In December, the court sentenced opposition leader Reckya Madougou to 20 years in prison for terrorism, a term which her lawyers described as a political attack.

The government denies any claims the court is manipulated for political purposes.

More than 700 metres of the wall have been decorated since April 11, and the organisers want to expand it to 1,300 metres in early 2023. They hope to beat the record for the longest graffiti fresco in the world.