"Descent into Paradise" is Attia's first exhibition in over five years in France. He describes it as"a journey through my life story, the starting point of a dialogue, and a reflection on our times, a challenging path".
"My grandmother and my father fought against colonialism. But I also really care about the idea that we can have several identities." In some photographs, young men look out towards the sea and towards Europe - except one, who sits reading a newspaper. He represents the people who decide to stay, perhaps to make a difference in their country, instead of dreaming of immigration.
Attia says this is a way of addressing his main theme, the desire for repair from past wounds, which irrigate the fractures of our present. He studied art in Paris at the prestigious École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs before travelling extensively in Algeria, Congo, Latin America and Asia, which informed his art deeply.Attia is drawn to emotional responses to historical events, particularly those that involve exile and uprootedness, and he has a deep interest in the"repair" of trauma - especially colonial wounds."The most important is to go back and forth between these two," he says.