Un monument pour les femmes martyres : itinérances urbainesdu travail artistique de Khalifa Qattan dans la ville de Koweït

Abstract

This article traces the biographical and geographical itinerancy of a sculpture created by the artist Khalifa Qattan in 1991-1993. It was conceived as a monument to the liberation of Kuwait and the memory of the women martyrs during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. By combining text, images and cartography, the article reconstructs the production process, the displacements, and the ‘sociological life’ of this monument by going beyond the multiple stages of an object’s life. This approach aims to capture the material and symbolic uses of this sculpture, the narratives it conveys, its appropriation by various people and the negotiations that take place among people as they move and locate it around Kuwait City. By considering this object in its overall trajectory, the biographical approach adopted articulates the changes in status during the life of an object that still occupies a relatively contested place in the visual and urban space. The study of this sculpture thus invites us to question the conditions of art production in relation to the artistic, historical and political contexts before and after the military invasion of Kuwait.

Keywords

• Public Space
• Memorial
• Sculpture
• Commemoration
• Women Martyrs
• Kuwait