Framing Liberation: The Photography of Lazhar Mansouri

Lazhar Mansouri’s photography studio in Aïn Beïda, nestled in Algeria’s Aurès Mountains, was more than a place to create photographs, it was a living, breathing archive—a space where the intricate interplay of identity, community, and liberation unfolded before Mansouri’s camera lens.

One of the most compelling aspects of Mansouri’s practice is its duality. On the surface, his work appears to focus on the everyday: a bride adjusting her veil; a child in traditional dress; a family gathered for a formal portrait. Yet beneath this surface lies a deeper narrative about the resilience of a people navigating the complexities of colonialism’s legacy. During and after the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), Mansouri’s studio became a silent witness to a nation’s resilience, capturing not just everyday moments but the profound transformations of a society reclaiming itself from colonial rule. His photographic practice navigated the personal and political, creating an unintentional yet powerful archive of Algerian resistance and renewal. As such, his portraits are at once personal and communal, capturing the interplay between individual stories and collective histories. They speak to the ways in which identity is performed, negotiated, and preserved, even under the weight of oppression.

Many of Mansouri’s portraits depict members of Algeria’s indigenous Amazigh culture, which had long been marginalised under French colonial rule. The Chaoui people, an Amazigh community native to the Aurès, feature prominently, offering rare insights into their traditions and daily lives. His photographs of Chaoui women in their distinctive jewellery and traditional garments, as well as depictions of rural life, serve as a counterpoint to colonial-era imagery that often sought to exoticise or homogenise Algeria’s diverse cultures. Each intimate yet defiant portrait becomes a quiet act of resistance, affirming the humanity and individuality of Algerians. Through Mansouri’s lens, ordinary Amazigh people asserted their dignity, their agency, and their right to be seen on their own terms. His studio, in this sense, became a liberatory space where individuals could construct, reconstruct and preserve their identities against a backdrop of systemic erasure, reinforcing the importance of Mansouri’s practice as an act of cultural preservation.

The Aurès Mountains, a region historically associated with resistance, add another layer of significance to Mansouri’s work. During the War of Independence, the Aurès served as a stronghold for the National Liberation Front (FLN), and its rugged terrain became synonymous with anti-colonial struggle. Mansouri’s studio, situated within this historically charged landscape, captured not just the people of Aïn Beïda but the spirit of a region central to Algeria’s liberation narrative. While his photographs are not overtly political in content, their context imbues them with a subversive power.

The fragility of archives, particularly those documenting marginalised histories, is a pressing concern when discussing Mansouri’s work. According to Westwood Gallery’s co-founders James Cavello and Margarite Almeida, who care for some of Mansouri’s archive, much of Mansouri’s photographic archive narrowly escaped destruction, underscoring the precarious nature of preserving cultural memory. This fragility is not unique to Mansouri; it reflects a broader pattern in which the histories of the colonised and marginalised are often fragmented, erased, or lost due to neglect and systemic inequities. The near loss of Mansouri’s negatives serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to safeguard such archives, not only for their historical value but for their role in shaping contemporary understandings of identity and resistance.

This recent interest in Mansouri’s work provides a critical opportunity to reframe his work within a global context, and amplify the work’s relevance to transnational dialogues about African modernity, decolonial memory, and the political potency of studio photography. A World in Common situated Mansouri alongside other African photographers including Hassan Hajjaj, Ruth Ossai, Atong Atem, James Barnor and Kelani Abass who similarly used the studio as a space to negotiate and assert identity. Often dismissed as parochial or purely commercial, studio photography is reimagined here as a tool for reclaiming overlooked narratives and as a site of decolonial practice. This framing highlights the resonances of Mansouri’s practice, and connects his work to broader conversations about the role of photography in resisting colonial narratives and affirming self-determination.

As such, Lazhar Mansouri’s photography studio was more than a site for creating images; it was a space where history was both documented and enacted. His portraits capture not just moments but movements—movements of people, cultures, and ideas striving for liberation and self-definition. By situating his work within the broader narratives of transnational modernity and decolonial memory, we can begin to appreciate the scope of his contributions. In doing so, we honour not only Mansouri’s vision but the resilience of the individuals and communities who passed through his studio, leaving behind an indelible record of their lives, struggles and resilience.