Hayward Gallery - Kader Attia
Attia has defined himself as an activist as well as an artist, and plans to create art that engages the audiences capacity for thinking as well as feeling, in order to provoke what he calls “real, fundamental dialogue” about the world.
The exhibition was very different, and was more of a Fine art exhibition than a photography based exhibition. It had a huge range of themes and styles that covered over six different rooms, displaying his work from the past two decades.
In his work, he uses a huge variety of mediums, including sculptures, installations, videos and photographs, and through his work, hopes to explore the ways that colonialism continues to shape how Western cultures represent and interact with non-Western cultures.
The first room consisted of a variety of sculptures and installations, including a brick, on a mirror held up by string, and a video that was playing on a huge screen at the back, showing a long video of a city, showing the buildings and the view. and a few other vide installation and a large metal sculpture.
In the next room is showed the series called ‘La Piste d’atterrissage’ that shows the lives of a group of Algerian transgender sex workers living in Paris in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. to be i fond this series very impactful and very moving as you could see the pain and struggle; but you could also see the happiness of being together. (Images below)
The next room was a small room that was pitch black, with two installations highlighted by a spotlight. The first installation showed two mirrors facing each other, in front of one was a pair of mens shoes, and in front of the other, a pair of heels. At the other end there was a ball made from pieces of different coloured metal, and held together with clasps. What i liked about this room is the simplicity of it, it shows how delicate the items are.
In the next room, there were more cultural and Western inspired pieces, such as a cheetah and small sculptures of tribal masks with pieces of glass and mirrors attached. With this collection of work its aim is to explore the politics of Western museums.
The next room focused on facial scars and facial deformities. There were a huge amount of sculptures on ‘bookcases’ surrounding the room, surrounded by books and images. it also had a small video that played that linked traditional masks with western soldiers and people that had facial deformities and comparing the two. I found this really interesting and spent a-lot of time in this room and taking it all it as there was a-lot going on, but it all worked very well together.
The next room had three screens on the floor playing videos, with chairs scattered around the room with prosthetic legs sitting on them, which I thought was interesting. The videos 'Reflecting Memory' (2016) explores phantom limb syndrome, a medical condition in which amputees experience sensations relating to a missing body part, and considers it as a metaphor for unresolved, collective trauma.
