Photographic Afterlives - (Rethinking Art's Histories) by Katarzyna Falecka (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book explores the resurfacing of photographs from the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) in contemporary art and photobooks by tracing some of the unexpected paths along which photographs travel and argues that contemporary archival art can equip viewers with the necessary tools for reading the broader archives of Algerian decolonisation.

Book Synopsis

Photographic afterlives explores the cultural, social and political contexts in which photographs from the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) emerge in contemporary art and photobooks. It situates these practices against the backdrop of the wider archival turn in the humanities and the ongoing debates about archives in Algeria. Tracing the movement of historical photographs across multiple spaces, the book unravels the subsequent layers of meaning accrued by these images. It argues that as much as archival contemporary art performs an inquiry into the past, it equally speaks volumes about the distinct and ever-shifting needs of the present. Focused on the work of artists and photographers who excavate side-lined histories of the war, remediate well-known narratives and imagine histories that cannot be recovered from archives, Photographic afterlives shows the great potential of archives of decolonisation.

From the Back Cover

'Through a rich and wide-ranging evidence base and the sophisticated application of theories of photography, Photographic afterlives makes an important intervention into how artists have grappled with narrating both the past and present.'
--Natalya Vince, University College Oxford

Photographic afterlives explores the resurfacing of photographs from the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) in contemporary art and photobooks. Since the late 1980s, artists have increasingly turned to the photographic archives of Algerian decolonisation, incorporating historical images into their artworks. Their interest in these collections developed in parallel to two phenomena: ongoing restitution debates concerning the removal of archives from Algeria by the French at the end of the war, and the surge in independent archiving practices in North Africa.

Photographic afterlives proposes that works by Zineb Sedira, Nadja Makhlouf, Dennis Adams, Sofiane Zouggar, Bruno Boudjelal, Lydia Ourahmane and others reframe the photographic archives of the war as sites of retrospective picturing and unravel their interpretative potential. These works expand state-led restitution debates predominantly focused on questions of national sovereignty and reveal the multiple uses to which historical photographs can be put. By tracing the capacity of contemporary artworks to channel family histories, gendered narratives of war, migratory experiences and affective encounters with history, the book considers them vital for exploring the multidirectionality of historical photographs from the Algerian War of Independence. Owing to its complex circulation routes and multiple iterations, photography perpetually escapes being rooted in the collective memory of any specific social group, complicating any fixed affinities between images and identities.

Photographic afterlives follows some of these unexpected paths along which photographs travel and argues that contemporary archival art can equip viewers with the necessary tools for reading the broader archives of Algerian decolonisation - in anticipation of their uncertain futures.

Review Quotes

'Through a rich and wide-ranging evidence base and the sophisticated application of theories of photography, Photographic afterlives makes an important intervention into how artists have grappled with narrating both the past and present.'
--Natalya Vince, University College Oxford

About the Author

Katarzyna Falecka is a Lecturer in Art History at Newcastle University