Pain felt in an arm or leg no longer there following amputation due to accident or illness is known as “phantom” pain. This work, Reflecting Memory (2016) is a video on the subject of this peculiar affliction. It contains a series of interviews with a variety of people from a surgeon to a maker of prosthetic limbs, a scholar of psychopathology, a musician, and a dancer, eventually superimposing the issue of phantom pain on that of historical trauma and discussing the way in which, just as an absent body part can hurt, painful past events (memories of massacre or war, experiencing discrimination), though less obvious on the surface, can cause suffering.

The video shows a form of therapy using mirrors to alleviate phantom pain. Perhaps the agony of past trauma also needs to be treated by assigning form to invisible memories and reflecting on them.

French-born to Algerian parents, Kader Attia grew up in France and Algeria. Subsequently spending time in several countries including Spain, Congo, and South Africa, he developed an interest in the history of western colonialism, and of conflict, and the wounds inflicted by these on society and the individual. This in turn prompted him to make Reflecting Memory and other subsequent works on the theme of injury and repair. His works have been shown at numerous international art exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (Italy), Documenta in Kassel (Germany), and the Gwangju Biennale (South Korea). These and solo exhibitions at institutions such as S.M.A.K., the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent (Belgium) and London’s Hayward Gallery, have garnered critical acclaim. He is also head curator of the 2022 Berlin Biennale, which he organized under the concept of decolonization.

Selected Works & Awards

2019

The Museum of Emotion (solo), The Hayward Gallery, London, UK

2018

The 12th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea

2017

VIVA ARTE VIVA, the 57th Venice Biennale, Italy

2017

Repairing the Invisible (solo), S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium

2016

Marcel Duchamp Prize, France

2012

dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Reflecting Memory / Réfléchir la Mémoire, 2016
• Photo: ToLoLo studio