Oran pays tribute to photographer Mohamed Kouaci

Oran pays tribute to Mohamed Kouaci, the pioneer of photography in Algeria through an exhibition entitled "Photographic testimonies, 1958-1963" involving some sixty works. The exhibition, organized by Oran at the gallery of Emir Abdelkader cultural center in downtown is set to share, within a few days, the perception of this unparalleled artist-witness of the national war of liberation. The exhibition also includes portraits of many notable leaders of the "war in Algeria" namely Mohamed Boudiaf, Ahmed Benbella, Hocine Ait Ahmed, but also those of anonymous combatants and refugees at the borders. The years spent in Tunis, after he joined the FLN leadership, in the neighboring country, have strongly influenced the work of this photographer. War orphans’ portraits taken in shelters at borders, pictures of school classes, often rudimentary, organized for refugee children capture the visitor's attention. The children of the war remain ubiquitous in the works of Mohamed Kouaci. The artist captures, whenever, in their contradictory expressive looks combining the terror of war and the hope of a better future.