Artist Patrick Altes revisits his colonial past

Patrick Altes was aged just four when he arrived in Paris with his family. They had been displaced from their home as the 1962 Algerian War of Independence expelled its population of European colonists.

Forty years later, Altes was awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Trust residency and used the year to develop work around the socio-political legacy of the Algerian War of Independence.

The resulting exhibition, ‘A Story of Revolutions’, is currently running at Triskel Christchurch, brought to Cork by UCC’s Department of French event series, ‘France and the Mediterranean’.

“’Pied-noir’ is what the French in France called the French living in Algeria. The word developed during this exodus in 1962,” explains Altes. The term formed the basis of the racism which affected him in his formative years and inspired Altes to lose his ‘accent’ to ease into French society.

On such a sunny day why not call in to see our current exhibition by Patrick Altes 'A Story of Revolutions' pic.twitter.com/wuYHrK3Z1I

— Triskel Arts Centre (@TriskelCork) March 11, 2014

After many years working as a teacher and lecturer in South Africa, France and Ecuador, Altes began making art, first as a photographer and later as a painter. The Leverhulme Trust fund enabled Altes to travel to Algeria, first to Oran where he was born, and later to Algiers.

He made contact with native Algerians who lived during the War of Independence, members of the pied-noir population and young Algerians to research how they were affected by the conflict. The art work evolved from the relationships forged in the course of this research.

Using some images provided by people in Algeria Altes digitally composed collages alongside his paintings. In the collages, significant French Algerian landmarks are used to create clever narratives to illustrate how the populations affected by the Algerian War of Independence have evolved since 1962. In Garden of Eden (Jardin d’Essai) he uses an old pied-noir black and white image of a botanical garden in Algiers. Before 1962 only European colonists and military personal had use of the garden. “It was very much a symbolising mission of the French in Algeria and how they were ‘transforming the country to a better place’,’” says Altes. He revisited this garden in 2012 and photographed Algerians using the space. These full colour contemporary figures are digitally inserted into the old photograph.

* A Story of Revolutions runs at Triskel Christchurch until April 20.