Publication

Among the materials produced for Thierry Oussou’s project is a lithograph derived from the boarding confirmation for the container of cotton transported from Benin to Amsterdam. This document, normally buried within layers of logistical administration, carries every essential detail of the cotton’s passage across the Atlantic. It is both a functional object and a carefully considered design, developed directly from the original document, preserving both its structure and visual character. Conceptually, Oussou regards this document as the birth certificate of the work White Gold Crossing the Atlantic, the large-scale cotton installation presented for the Prix de Rome 2025. Without this certificate and its bureaucratic proof of movement, ownership, and processing, the artwork could not come into being. The lithograph therefore embodies the moment in which the material begins its transformation from commodity to artwork, making visible a stage of production that is usually hidden from public view. This lithograph is issued in an edition of one hundred and is offered together with four additional documents that trace key steps in the shipping process. For visitors and readers, acquiring these materials provides a rare opportunity to hold a fragment of the administrative and logistical trail behind the artwork.