During my childhood in Benin, I was deeply marked by the first volumes of the comic book Les Passagers du vent by François Bourgeon. Part of the story takes place in Ouidah, the village where my father’s family comes from. Fascinated by the realism of the images, I recognized the places, and the drawn faces felt familiar. It was in these pages that I first discovered the strange collars worn by some slaves to prevent them from escaping. Later, I discovered the genealogy of my family and understood why we carry a Portuguese name, like so many other Beninese. My ancestor, who bore the name Ayedabo Adagoun Odo and was originally from Nigeria, was enslaved by the Portuguese and sent to Brazil. Years later, freed, he returned to Benin under the name Pedro Monteiro.

Sensitive to the issue of the transatlantic slave trade and the role played by this small village on the Beninese coast, I decided to explore the subject through photography. After researching the restraints used to punish or discourage any attempt to escape, I reconstructed five models. From these plans, two young Beninese blacksmiths crafted the restraints presented in my series Marrons.

In this series, my intention is to restore a human face to the slaves. Photography reveals a reality different from that of the lithographs and rare images of the time. I chose chiaroscuro as a photographic technique so that these ghostly figures emerge from the past and confront the viewer, with the following message:
“This is what a human being is capable of doing to another human being, in the sole name of profit.”

The subject is approached in an anthropological manner, referencing lithographs and the rare original photographs of slaves, while adopting a contemporary approach to lighting. A black box, a kind of mobile studio, was designed to meet the models directly in the streets of Ouidah.