Sharjah Art Foundation

March Meeting 2011

3-Day Cultural Symposium on ongoing and future art and cultural initiatives by professionals from across the globe
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Overview

Zineb Sedira and Amina Menia began to work together in the shared interest of preserving and publishing the archived photographs of Mohamed Kouaci, who was the only Algerian photographer to be employed by the Ministry of Information during the Algerian Revolution. At March Meeting 2011 they presented some of Kouachi’s photographs and talked about their wish to raise funding to produce a substantial publication on his work, as well as to locate an exhibition space to display their findings. Sedira presented a section of her film Gardiennes d’images (Image Keepers, 2010), a film inspired by the memories of Kouaci’s widow Safia, while Menia presented parts of her project The Golden Age, which charts the unconscious influence of Kouachi’s photographs on the images produced by younger generations.

Presentation Proposal

Mohamed Kouaci (1929-1996) is to our knowledge the only Algerian photographer to have closely followed the Algerian Revolution, the country’s independence (1962) and the aftermath. Although for seven years he was a photographer for the Ministry for Information, to this day the Algerian government has taken no action to rescue Kouaci’s ‘visual’ legacy. While looking at his photographs, which have been protected by his widow Safia Kouaci, we realised the significance of his work. We were astonished by its diversity, aesthetic qualities and quantity and by the ‘new way’ he portrayed Algerian history. Most of the images from that period were taken by French army photographers or European reporters. Little known to Algerian citizens and in poor condition, the photographs deserve to be restored and given visibility for their documentary and historical importance. Also, due to the human dimension of the archive, its value today is universal, exceeding the historical borders and symbolic systems of Algeria and France.

Zineb Sedira

Zineb Sedira (b.1963) lives in London and works in Paris, Algiers and London. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, the US and the Middle East, including at the Venice Biennale (2001), Tate Britain, London (2002), the ICP Triennial, NY (2003), the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010), the Hayward Gallery, London (2005), Brooklyn Museum, NY (2007), and the 1st Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen (2008). Solo exhibitions include: Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, France (2002), Cornerhouse, Manchester (2004), Photographers’ Gallery, London (2006), Wapping Project, London (2008), Rivington Place and John Hansard Gallery, London, Pori Art Museum, Finland (2009), and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2010).

Amina Menia

Amina Menia (b. 1976) lives and works in Algiers. Her work has been shown in exhibitions and public spaces internationally, including Les Emissaires at UNESCO, Paris (2003), the International Festival of Arts in Mahares, Tunisia (2003), La Maison des Métallos in Paris (2003), Images d’Algérie at l’Atelier De Visu, Marseille (2004), Journées Méditerranéennes d’Arts Plastiques de Sousse, Tunisia (2004), Extra Muros at the Algerian Casbah (2005), the Panafrican Festival of Algiers (2009) and the Museum of Modern Art of Algiers (2010). In 2009 she was a resident artist at the Delfina Foundation, London.