Archiving the Algerian Revolution in Zineb Sedira's Gardiennes d'images

In 2013, the Museum of Modern Art of Algiers (Musée Public National d'Art Moderne et Contemporain d'Alger; MAMA) staged a group exhibition that featured photography from the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62).¹Les Photographes de Guerre, Les Djounoud du noir et blanc (May 14–August 30, 2013) featured blown-up black-and-white photographs on three floors of the museum, a repurposed department store from the early twentieth century in the former European quarter of Algiers. Images taken by professional and amateur Algerian photographers were placed alongside those by international and French image makers, revealing the broader networks of visual production during the war (see Djehiche and Djilali 2013). Fought between the National Liberation Front (Front de libération nationale; FLN) and the French colonial state, the Algerian War of Independence holds a prolific place within histories of decolonization due to its excessive violence and impact on other liberation movements on the continent....