Sahara Occidentale

Sahara Occidentale, con poche immagini three events exploring the image in the Western Sahara conflict

Since 1999 an informal collective of writers, philosophers, historians, filmmakers, artists, and activists has been looking at photographs and video footage and their use in the Western Sahara conflict. On numerous occasions and in different contexts, the group presented its findings in varying formats in order to show the Sahrawis’ novel relation to images.

In conjunction with the exhibition, image in the aftermath, Beirut art center and the Arab image foundation will present three evenings of events exploring the work Sahara Occidentale, con poche immagini.

Program Wednesday, May 18

The Sahrawi war museum
A conversation with Jean Lamore and Fatima Mahfoud

English

Since the first years of the conflict, the Sahrawis recuperated weapons and photographs from the battlefield, which are then kept in the Sahrawi war museum. The gesture of keeping the photographs of the enemy is at the heart of necessità dei volti a reflection on the relation of the Sahrawis to this involuntary archive. During their conversation, Jean Lamore and Fatima Mahfoud will show archival footage and photographs to explore questions related to the Sahrawi war museum and its presentation through necessità dei volti.

Organised with the support of the prince Claus fund for culture and development

Program Friday, May 20

The occupation a conversation with Gianluca Solla and Fatima Mahfoud

French

In May 2005 revolts in all the occupied cities of western Sahara broke out, and the use of photography and video was adopted by the entire population as a form of denunciation. This time the Sahrawis turned their cameras on themselves and created a digital archive distributed through their informal networks. The images were shot in secret under extremely difficult conditions during the protests in public squares, prisons, or after brutal beatings. These images will be questioned in order to understand the meaning they carry, as well as their absence in the international media. In them lies a poetic expression, which is also the search for a novel form of resistance.

Program Saturday, May 21

The exile an encounter with the cinema of Mario Martone 

In 1996, the filmmaker Mario Martone directed the film una storia Sahrawi* in the Sahrawi refugee camps in southwestern Algeria. Today Martone states: “I often say my experience with the Sahrawis was vital from a cinematographic, cultural and artistic perspective. I’ve had the chance to enrich my artistic approach to the image… I’m referring, for instance, to my last movie [we believed], which is the narration of the war the Italians fought in 1800 for achieving independence…after all, I would not have shot that movie, or I would have shot it differently, if I had not met the Sahrawis.” during this last encounter, collaborations the Sahrawis have established with different intellectuals will be presented.

*una storia Sahrawi, by Mario martone, 1997, 30 min, hassanya with English subtitles

Organised with the support of the prince Claus fund for culture and development