North African modernities: myth stripped bare

Abstract

This article examines how 'tradition' and 'modernity' in the postcolonial condition are negotiated in the famous travelling exhibition Africa Remix. The author focuses on what she calls the 'myth-making' display that operates in the works of the video artists Zineb Sedira and Zoulika Bouabdellah included in the exhibition. The artists, both of Algerian origin, utilize the technique of subverting cultural objects and icons - such as voiles, flags, and the concept of the freedom fighter - which, by way of appropriation and mimicry, returns the gaze of Europe and at the same time questions ethnic and family linkages.