Against Nostalgia
Against Nostalgia, 2023, Photo Series of nine photographs, C-print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta, 2023 60 x 40 cm each, framed.
A postcard motif depicting a landscape with palm trees is greatly enlarged and affixed to the wall as wallpaper. This large-scale image references the historical trend of exoticizing interior spaces, a practice that can be traced to the early colonial era and continues to reappear in contemporary contexts. In this context, the motif serves a deliberate function by framing the first photograph in Huda Takriti’s series Against Nostalgia, thereby foregrounding her critical engagement with colonial crimes. Across nine photographs, Takriti examines a collection of postcards depicting orientalist views of Algeria, which she acquired via eBay auctions. These postcards expose a postcolonial longing for the colonial era, frequently circulated on social media by the Pieds-Noirs, the former French settlers in Algeria who largely returned to France following independence. The postcards alternate between nostalgic representations of the 'former homeland,' labeled with phrases such as 'Scenes from the Orient,' and images that exoticize or sexualize women for colonialist fantasies. This duality underscores the enduring and problematic gaze inherent in these visual representations.
Within the photo series, these postcards are transformed into elements of an imagined archive. The images feature the archivist's gloved hands partially obscuring the postcards, establishing a visual barrier that complicates access and prompts reflection on the viewer’s gaze and intentions. This approach raises the question of whether it is possible to avoid replicating a colonial, exploitative gaze when exhibiting such motifs. Simultaneously, the white gloves evoke the conventions of archival practice, suggesting careful preservation and the significance of these objects to collective memory. However, in this context, the gloves primarily serve as indicators of an archival activity. Most of the archives Takriti seeks remain inaccessible due to visa restrictions, copyright limitations, or unresolved colonial legacies within current institutions. Consequently, the artist enacts the process of archiving through a series of gestures—hands that simultaneously reveal, display, and conceal.
60 x 40 cm each, framed.