Kader Attia's Voices of Resistance: From Prosody to La Colonie

Giovanna Zapperi's essay in Afterall Journal 46 examines Kader Attia's practice through voice, colonialism, and repair. Attia's video 'Prosody' (2017) features Moroccan poet Rachida Madani, transgender activist Pascale Ourbih, and Algerian performer Biyouna reading Madani's verses, exploring how prosody connects language and emotion. The work was part of 'Narrative Vibrations' at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), which included semolina plates vibrating to Arabic divas' songs, linking personal memory to decolonization. Attia's installation 'Arab Spring' (2014) reenacts the looting of Cairo's Egyptian Museum during the 2011 revolution, critiquing colonial classification. In response to the 2015 Paris attacks, Attia co-founded La Colonie in October 2016, a space in northern Paris for art, activism, and decolonial discourse, opened on the anniversary of the 1961 Algerian massacre. His video 'The Body's Legacies, Pt. 2: The Post-Colonial Body' (2018) addresses police violence against Théo Luhaka in Aulnay-sous-Bois, featuring Olivier Marbœuf, Louisa Yousfi, Norman Ajari, and Amine Khaled. The essay contextualizes these works within France's colonial legacy and state repression.