Kader Attia

The Body’s Legacies

Pt. 2: The Postcolonial Body

Film–Paris

50 min, € 8/6

Kader Attia’s film essay explores the concept of the racialized body, and its perception within public space. Four different perspectives presented by intellectuals and activists develop a narrative around the subject of the racialized body. How is the body shaped by history, present politics, economy and architecture?

By zooming in and out between personal account, individual experience and sociological analysis, the narration brings a particular story to light: the assault on the young Théo Luhaka by police officers in a Parisian suburb, February 2017.

Bringing together the different experiences of his interviewees, Kader Attia dissects – in a lucid and almost surgical way – how the legacy of colonial violence and the stratification of racism affect the self-perception of the body and have a physical impact on the way of moving and inhabiting the public space. The Body’s Legacies explicitly opposes the regular discourse on racism as it is generally presented in the media, where voices speak about the body of others, as the mute objects of their discourse.

Crédits / Credits:

A film by: Kader Attia

With: Norman Ajari, Amine Khaled, Olivier Marboeuf and Louisa Yousfi

Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Cinema Palace

With the support of the French Institute and the French Embassy in Belgium, in the frame of Extra

Photo / Foto / Picture

© Kader Attia, The Body's Legacies Pt. 2: The Postcolonial Body (still)