Adel Abdessemed

Overall, there weren't a lot of pieces that made me think about anything other than what it was at face value. To me, the burnt car was a burnt car, and the cats drinking milk were cats drinking milk... However, all of the pieces as a whole melded well together and that is a testament to the artist's vision and to the curators. Adel's pieces do not stand well individually, but as a group they tell a great story about Algerian history. Having said that, there was just one piece that really stayed in my mind after I left the exhibit:

The camera falling out of the plane didn't really fit with everything else. After seeing this piece the first thing that jumped into my head was: "Boy, that is dangerous; what if the camera hit somebody?" And then I realized how funny that was because that is not going to go through one's head if they themselves jump out of the plane. This piece fit well with the video of the artist's son waving obviously, but I felt it could also have been powerful on its own. It made me think about a difference between life and death; in life you (might) care about other peoples' well being, but in death, especially in suicide, one is going to have a tough time to consider other people. In the end, the piece shows how selfish suicide is.