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In remembrance of the fiftieth anniversary of the Agreements of Evian preceded by the independence by Algeria, the musée de l’Armée presents an exhibition dedicated to 132 years of French military presence on Algerian soil, starting in 1830 and ending with the Algerian Independence in 1962.The musée de l’Armée’s approach is purely historical and educational. The exhibition is intended to all visitors in search of postmemory transmission and a better understanding of a lengthy historical period characterized by complex relations. Now is the time to identify all its different factors and aspects through a global presentation instead of reducing it to the sole period of the War of Algeria (1954 -1962). The result of the latest expert research in collaboration with specialized historians, this exhibition is designed to highlight the historical contexts (political, economic, social and international) of 132 years of French presence in Algeria. While focusing on the challenges faced by the main actors involved, it explores through a chronological order the causes and effects of successive major historical events. The exhibition features 271 significant iconographic source materials: paintings, photographs, films and news reels as well as documents (from official and private sources), uniforms and emblems selected from the Museum’s own collections and on loan from major French museums, libraries and broadcasting archives. Video presentations consisting of news rushes, films and TV shows, give a cinematic testimony of these historical events on the 31 screens and 6 video projectors positioned all along the exhibition. By way of conclusion and following the analysis offered by historians, actors of the War of Algeria give their varied and often powerfully moving personal testimonies, their voices, emotions and passion echoing from an audiovisual presentation dedicated to them. Algérie 1830-1862. Featuring Jacques Ferrandez was produced in collaboration with Casterman, a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics. The exhibition features French cartoonist Jacques Ferrandez, author of the ten volumes Carnets d’Orient series, a saga and epic story depicting a family of Pied Noirs (a term referring to French citizens of European settlers descent born in French Algeria) from 1830 up to the late 1950’s. The universe of this narrative fiction weaves the scenographical fabric of the exhibition, and serves as a counterpoint to the succession of historical developments illustrated by the collections on display. In the Carnets d’Orient, the author incorporates current events from a thorough selection of documentary and other varied material sources used for own fictional interpretation. His work attests to our present interest in the history of French colonization and decolonization of Algeria. |
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