I decided to travel along the North coast of Algeria to question the memory attached to certain places and sites. Two types of public sculptures particularly attracted my attention: commemorative stelae and monuments dedicated to martyrs. I am interested in this tradition of erecting an object as a souvenir of an event or to commemorate the opening of a bridge or a public building. These are political communication tools that generally ring sourly of hijacking and demagogy. The commemoration stelae markedly punctuate the landscape and possess a very powerful suggestive dimension. These objects evoke something that is anticipated, suspended, something that is in preparation… They are the symbol of promises that are often not honored.
Monuments for martyrs are justified by an incredible will to take refuge in the past and ceaselessly celebrate the same events and the same period of the Algerian war of independence. I am always very struck by this phrase by Nietzsche: “the past must be forgotten if it is not to become the gravedigger of the present”. I am frustrated that Algerian art in the public sphere limits itself practically exclusively to the bitter subject from the past.
With these photographs, I want to document these public commissions which are carried by a political or a community project. What is this « public » art in a country which is badly lacking in democracy? What are the ideological references of an epoch region? What is the intention of these popular expressions? What are the aesthetic references of these artists? Indeed the objects vary from Byzantium to Chinese pagodas or a certain formalism… All these associations are highly charged with meaning. The materials which are used are also revealing: it can range from a cult of marble to extraordinary choices of colour.
Monuments for martyrs are justified by an incredible will to take refuge in the past and ceaselessly celebrate the same events and the same period of the Algerian war of independence. I am always very struck by this phrase by Nietzsche: “the past must be forgotten if it is not to become the gravedigger of the present”. I am frustrated that Algerian art in the public sphere limits itself practically exclusively to the bitter subject from the past.
With these photographs, I want to document these public commissions which are carried by a political or a community project. What is this « public » art in a country which is badly lacking in democracy? What are the ideological references of an epoch region? What is the intention of these popular expressions? What are the aesthetic references of these artists? Indeed the objects vary from Byzantium to Chinese pagodas or a certain formalism… All these associations are highly charged with meaning. The materials which are used are also revealing: it can range from a cult of marble to extraordinary choices of colour.