Eva Nielsen in collaboration with LVMH Métiers d'Art

French visual artist Raphaël Barontini’s artistic residency took place in 2020 at the Heng Long crocodile leather tannery in Singapore, renowned for its exceptional expertise in the tanning and finishing of crocodile leather. Here he created a series of 30 powerful works.

Combining photography, silk screen printing, painting, and digital prints, Raphaël Barontini’s work has been exhibited in institutions around the world, including MO.CO (Montpellier, France), the Museum of African Diaspora (San Francisco, USA) and the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, USA), to name but a few. During his residency at the Heng Long tannery in Singapore, Barontini created 30 striking works of art using crocodile leather as one of the prime materials. Jean Baptiste Voisin, President of LVMH Métiers d'Art, describes the artist's experience as follows: "Singapore and the methods used by the tanners to treat crocodile skin have enriched the stories Raphaël seeks to tell with new frames of reference, new bricks. In 30 works of incredible strength and modernity he summarises the world of tomorrow as it is being imagined today."