Orientalist phenomenon, 2024

Orientalist Phenomenon, 2024 @halidaboughriet (100 pièces – 49 x 36 cm)

The question of the Orient is, in a way, an epiphenomenon. In examining the implications of Said’s own argument, it is important to move beyond a simple understanding of Orientalist discourse as a foreign entity imposed from outside. We must instead understand and see the « Orient » as an externalization, for lack of a better term, of « indigenous » trends within the structure of certain cultural practices identified as Western. Today, we still see contemporary images that reference an Orientalist exoticism that we thought was outdated. Contemporary photographic portraits are still hindered by these representations and this accumulation of vague clichés.

Detained and Deported, 2024 @halidaboughriet (100 pièces – 49 x 36 cm)

This is a forgotten episode in the history of the descendants of Algerians deported during colonization. To address this, I undertook a comparative analysis of deportation records and records of detention places, particularly on the island of Sainte Marguerite and in New Caledonia, to shed light on the situation of Algerian deportees. This painstaking work involves piecing together fragments of the history of these forgotten deportees, in order to do them justice in the telling of the struggle for independence and dignity, highlighting their conditions of detention, their resistance, and their refusal to give up on their right to return to Algeria.