Technique:
Cooked couscous on wooden table and digital prints on paper
On the table is a model, made entirely of couscous, of the ancient Algerian city of Gharda?a. One of the photographs on the wall depicts the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who visited Gharda?a in 1931 and adapted elements of its buildings into his own designs. Another photograph shows Fernand Pouillon, one of Le Corbusier’s followers, who drew upon these ideas to design the social housing project in suburban Paris where Attia grew up, as the child of Algerian parents. The artist’s own history, and the wider post-colonial relationship between Algeria and France, are therefore expressed through this work.
