Fondation Giacometti

The historical background of African independences and decolonisation has seen artists from these societies, in the midst of political emancipation, set out to challenge the very notions of modernity and modern art. Drawing on writings, statements, and artistic practices that emerged from this context of decolonisation, this lecture explores this questioning through the trajectories of two painters: Mohammed Khadda (1931–1991) and Mohamed Melehi (1936–2020), without, however, reducing what was a much broader and collective movement to these two figures.

From a history of transnational connections and trajectories of artists from the Maghreb, whose work continues to challenge the centrality of Paris, the old French colonial capital, we might open a space to envision decentralised and pluralistic art histories.

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A lecture by Émilie Goudal, PhD in Art History, lecturer and researcher — holder of the ‘Cultures, Societies and Practices in Transition’ chair — at the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Arts at the University of Lille.

Her research focuses on the interplay between the arts, visual culture, social history, politics and issues of memory in the context of decolonisation. She has published several articles on these subjects in journals, catalogues and exhibition texts (Fondation HCB, Perspective, Gradhiva, Paris Musées, etc.) and her first book, entitled Des Damnées de l’Histoire. Les arts visuels face à la guerre d’Algérie (Dijon, Les Presses du réel, 2019). Having been awarded various research grants for her work (IRMC – Tunis, DFK, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, INHA, Institut pour la photographie, CNAP), she is also co-curator, alongside Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, of the exhibition Ces voix qui m’assiègent… (Paris, Cité internationale des arts, 2024; Algiers, Institut français d’Algérie, 2025).