Kader Attia , Colonial Melancholia , , Video color, sound , min still. Jean-Baptiste Ferracci , Archives photographiques de M. Nadja Makhlouf , Henda from the series De l'invisible au visible: Moudjahidate, femmes combattantes , , Archival pigment print, Zineb Sedira , Retelling Histories, my mother told me Use your up, down, left, and right keys to navigate.
Beyond Metaphor: Women and War showcases the work of five contemporary artists who explore women's experiences during the Algerian War of Independence. The war, fought between and , ended the long French colonial rule in Algeria. As anti-colonial movements multiplied across Africa following the Second World War, women became key figures within struggles for independence. Histories of decolonization have foregrounded the role of men in challenging European colonial control, and marginalized women's involvement as fighters, nurses, community organizers and educators.
In rare instances when women are evoked, they figure merely as symbols of a collective and sacrificial struggle against colonialism, revealing little about how women lived through the war. Not entirely forgotten, but also not fully remembered, women continue to hold a tenuous place within narratives of the war. This exhibition illuminates this blind spot by showcasing art works that address the heterogeneity of women's experiences during decolonization.
Zineb Sedira's video work presents the artist in conversation with her mother, emphasizing oral history as a site of gendered memory transmission. Nadja Makhlouf photographed women veterans who fought for Algeria's independence, pairing these portraits with historical photographs and short biographies.
In Kader Attia's video, the artist's relative recalls everyday forms of resistance. Marwa Arsanios confronts the visual trope of the Algerian woman fighter, while Katia Kameli presents us with a visual mosaic that eclipses a fixed national history.
