Raphaël Barontini: a monumental installation at the Panthéon, our photos

As part of its " Un artiste, un monument " program, the Centre des monuments nationaux is presenting a carte blanche exhibition by artist Raphaël Barontini at the sublime Panthéon in Paris.

Running from October 19, 2023 to February 11, 2024, this exhibition, entitled"We Could be Heroes", is an opportunity for the visual artist to evoke the history and memory of the fight against slavery, by highlighting heroic figures - both well-known and little-known - in this struggle.

This beautiful artistic and historical fresco takes place in the Panthéon, a place of republican memory that honors several personalities who worked for the abolition of slavery, including Condorcet, Toussaint Louverture, Louis Delgrès and Victor Schœlcher.

Raphaël Barontini's"We Could be Heroes" installation, which draws its inspiration from the homage paid to the figures of historic liberation movements, is intended to be " monumental " , and was thus conceived in situ. It consists of several parts, beginning with a hedge of honor comprising some forty flags and a dozen large-format banners deployed on either side of the nave of the Panthéon.

Each banner, a blend of painting on canvas and silkscreen printing, features the stylized portraits of historical and heroic figures who fought for the abolition of slavery, such as Anchaing & Héva (La Réunion), Sanité Bélair (Haiti), Louis Delgrès (Martinique and Guadeloupe), Dutty Boukman (Haiti)...

Further afield, two fascinating panoramic suspended textile works can be discovered in the north and south transepts of the Pantheon, not far from the famous Foucault Pendulum.

For these two gigantic works, 20 meters long and 5 meters high, the artist mixes several artistic techniques (collage, textile, print on fabric, silkscreen...), superimposing colors and assembling fragments of landscapes, bodies and motifs.

Here again, Raphaël Barontini pays tribute to the historical figures who fought for the abolition of slavery. These two panoramic pieces thus take on a narrative dimension, from the dark days of the slave trade and slavery to the battles for its abolition.

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To enhance this installation, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux has announced the creation of a performance, combining an original sound piece composed by artist Mike Ladd, followed by a collective procession by Mas Choukaj, a group of West Indian carnival musicians based in Seine-Saint-Denis. The procession will activate the textile and pictorial works installed in the Panthéon for one day only, not to be missed on Sunday October 22 at 4.30pm.

Raphaël Barontini is an artist who combines photography, silk-screening, painting and digital printing. His work has already been exhibited on several occasions, including at the MAC VAL (Vitry-sur-Seine, France), the Museum of African Diaspora (San Francisco, USA), the New Art Exchange Museum (Nottingham, UK) and the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, USA). Proof of his renown, Raphaël Barontini will soon be in residence at the Villa Albertine in New Orleans.