In this episode of Empire Lines, artist Zineb Sedira discusses her exhibition ‘Dreams Have No Titles’ at Whitechapel Gallery, which explored cultural and postcolonial connections between Algeria, France, Italy, and the UK, spanning the 1960s to the present. The exhibition draws from Sedira’s personal archive of films, textiles, and radical magazines, reflecting on her experiences growing up in Paris, coming of age in Brixton, and her ‘return’ to Algiers. Born in 1963, shortly after Algeria gained independence from French colonial rule, Sedira’s diasporic journey is central to her work.
Sedira shares insights into her early encounters with 'militant cinema', including the influence of international co-productions like The Battle of Algiers (1966) and her decision to represent France at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. This choice provoked controversy but also garnered support and solidarity from her contemporaries, including Françoise Vergès and Sonia Boyce. Zineb shares how personal histories contribute to collective memory, subverting ideas of ‘collection’ and using museum and gallery spaces to make archives more accessible. Through her exploration of orientalist tapestries and textiles, Sedira addresses her ‘feminist awakening’, highlighting how culture can both reinforce and disrupt colonial hierarchies and provide the possibility to ‘decolonise oneself’.
The conversation touches on Sedira’s passion for music, especially jazz and rock, with references to the Pan-African Festival in Algiers (1969) and influential performers like Nina Simone and Miriam Makeba. She reflects on how her participatory works evolve and shift meaning as they move between global audiences and institutions.
