Middle East Studies

Photography Exhibit | "Mohamed Kouaci: Vision(s) of Algeria" | Curated by Adel Ben Bella

Algeria Event Poster

Wednesday, October 12 –
Friday, October 28, 2022


Atrium Gallery at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, 154 Angell Street, Providence, RI


Free and open to the public 

July 5, 2022, marked 60 years since Algeria's independence. In time for this anniversary, we wish to look at this history through the prism of photography and reflect on the construction of modern Algeria through the tensions and the potential avenues encapsulated in the terms "revolution," "independence," and "decolonization" in a visual conversation.


Photography Exhibit 

"Mohamed Kouaci: Vision(s) of Algeria" 

Curated by Adel Ben Bella, the photography exhibit centers on the work of Algerian photographer Mohamed Kouaci. Kouaci was one of the very few Algerian photographers to document the entire Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) on the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) side as well as the first few years (1962-1965) of the new Algerian Nation. 

Arts
Thinking Algeria at 60: Images from a Revolution
Workshops, Conferences, Seminars

A self-taught practitioner born in Blida, Algeria, Kouaci was head of the photography service at the Information Ministry of the GPRA (Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Algérienne) as well as the sole photographer and photo editor of the FLN newspaper, El Moudjahid, from 1958 until 1962. Although unable to enter his country during most of the war due to the French colonial army’s sealing of Algeria's borders with Morocco and Tunisia starting in 1957, Kouaci’s work created a powerful and lasting vision of Algeria and the narrative of its revolution.


Center for Middle East Studies 
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Department of Modern Culture and Media
Black Visualities Initiative at the Cogut Institute for the Humanities
The Department of French and Francophone Studies
Magic Lantern Cinema 
Centre National de la Cinématographie et de l'Audio-visuel (CNCA)