For Elon-M Tossou, art is inherently linked to religion. As a native of Oumako, Elon’s ancestry is rooted in Hulagan, otherwise known as Grand Popo, Benin’s high place of traditional religious practices. 

Initiated in the tenets of theology, cosmogenesis and the sacred rites, the young
apostle is granted a rare opportunity to study the complex hierarchy of Vodun deities which, according to Fon and Yorùbá mythologies, are governing the forces of nature, the spirits of each individual water stream, each tree, each rock and in essence of every being upon this earth.