Artists’ archives and the sites of memory in Cairo and Algiers

Abstract

There are numerous examples in Africa and beyond of artistic explorations of hidden, neglected or marginalized (photographic) archives and histories. This is the case with Lara Baladi and Egypt-born artist Hala Elkoussy, as well as Zineb Sedira's Gardiennes d'images. The three artists interact with different photographic and image archives and collections in order to reassess official historical narrations, to question their very specific modes of representation or to reflect the status of memory in the digital age. In doing so, they all approach the various forms of individual and collective memories, facts and fiction and the (physical) place for memory. As with the works of so many artists, be they from Africa or not, here too, ‘the archive’ as a chosen focus implies a meditation on the conditions of historical representation, the making of history and – this is especially important here – on the existence or non-existence of official safeguard-institutions like museums as well as their modus operandi. In this context, the observation of more and more intertwined artistic and scientific ‘cultures’ (exemplified in the use of oral history, for instance) seems to be extremely relevant especially in the absence of major platforms for critical debate. This essay therefore brings together questions of artists’ involvement in archival practices, artistic knowledge production, and the role that artists and art can play in society.

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