Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
An exhibition titled “A Way of Surviving, a Way of Life…” by video artist Zineb Sedira commenced at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Running until March 8, 2025, the exhibition spans Sedira’s cinematic practice from 2002 to 2022, with a focus on identity, diaspora, memory, and culture.
Born in 1963 to Algerian parents, Sedira crafts her work around personal narratives that reflect broader global issues related to cultural emancipation and the challenges of diaspora.
The exhibition incorporates four thought-provoking films: Dreams Have No Titles (2022), Mise-en-Scène (2019), Image Keepers (2010), and Mother Tongue (2002). It collectively delivers a moving narrative about the complexities of migration, memory, along with the passing down of knowledge between generations.
“Dreams Have No Titles”, the centerpiece installation of the exhibition, is displayed in the Cultural Foundation’s atrium as a full-scale cinema box.
Premiered at the French Pavilion of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, this award-winning film weaves Sedira’s personal story together with the history of anticolonial cinema in Algeria.
Exploring themes of displacement, mobility, integration, and longing, it reflects her life experiences through an autobiographical lens within the context of avant-garde cinema and broader diasporic narratives.
Moving on to “Mise-en-Scène”, the film creatively reinterprets archival footage from 1960s Algerian anti-colonial films, crafting a narrative that casts a light on Algeria’s significant historical moments and the collective efforts of activist filmmakers.
As a result of time’s effect on the original film, the film’s texture acts as a metaphor for the degradation of memory and the challenges of archival preservation.
In addition, “Image Keepers” is a video installation that presents a dual biographical portrait of Algerian photographer Mohamed Kouaci, viewed through the perspective of his widow, Safia.
The installation weaves together their personal and professional lives through a poignant interview.
Furthermore, “Mother Tongue”, one of Sedira’s most celebrated video installations, utilises a triple-screen format.
It features dialogues among three generations of women – herself, her mother, and her daughter - spotlighting the evolution of memory transmission across languages.
Speaking to Aletihad on the sidelines of the exhibition, Sedira stressed her belief that “art can be a tool or weapon to resist”, particularly in her struggle against the “loss of memory and past histories.”
Reflecting on her career, she said: “It has gotten better and better as I got older, and the work is obviously changing.”
She has increasingly embraced film and collaboration. “I am more and more into working with a crew and using analog techniques rather than digital, although it ultimately depends on the budget.”
Elaborating on her thematic focus, she said the subjects are always the same: “It is about Algeria, memory, and archiving oral history.”
Sedira also touched on the restoration process for her films involving scanning and digitising materials, a complex and time-consuming endeavour.
Sedira’s internationally recognised films combine archival research, oral histories, as well as storytelling towards challenging traditional narratives.
She expressed hope that audiences in Abu Dhabi would discover lesser-known aspects of Algeria through her work.
“I see the audience here as an international one,” she stated.
The exhibition is organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism as part of its efforts to enrich cultural experiences through vibrant and dynamic programmes.
