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Of the confused memory (2015)
print on glass, metal
± 140 x 140 x 7 cm
unique, 3 versions + 1 AP
Production in:
Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres (BE)
In his undermining of common spaces and other established beliefs, Mehdi-Georges Lahlou replaced these religious figures with military ones but, once again, these were not just any figures. These are images of Moroccan armed division and Algerian Zouaves, chosen because of their status as populations colonized by France in the 19th century. In 1914, they were brought out and compelled to fight on the front lines and in the trenches “for the motherland.” Needless to say, it was necessary for an artist of Franco-Moroccan origin, like Mehdi-Georges Lahlou, to search, select and employ these documents and types of representations. It is a novel way for him to subtly denounce a certain form of colonization and, most of all, its consequences for the relevant populations, which would otherwise be completely excluded from this conflict.
Bernard Marcelis
