The Hannibal Pavilion – Trevor Gould

Le Pavillon d’Hannibal (The Hannibal Pavilion)

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Le Pavillon d’Hannibal, in the Lou Passavous locality of Le Vernet, 2014, a project commissioned by the Nouveaux Commanditaires programme of the Fondation de France.

During his march on Rome in 218 B.C., the famous African general Hannibal could have gone through the Larche pass that overlooks the “Lou Passavous” site. This is suggested by this piece by Trevor Gould, a South African artist who lives in Canada, whose work is marked by the themes of migration and colonisation.
These subjects are found in the epic story of Hannibal and his 40 elephants, veritable war machines that passed through Provence. Here, the elephant is mounted by a hybrid character with mouse’s ears that could perhaps embody the conquest of the world by the culture of merchandisation of which Disney is the paradigm. The elephant and its driver are contained in a pavilion whose architecture is reminiscent of those in universal exhibitions, but also in zoos – other recurrent themes in the artist’s work.

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