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Since her arrival in the Rivesaltes transit camp in France in 1964, Habiba continually surpassed herself. She joined the workshop in 1975 as an unskilled worker and, a few years later, she took over as manager and fought hard for better working conditions or struggled against the postcolonial attitude of her superiors.
Her position was downgraded by the administration who was worried about losing a submissive, illiterate and cheap workforce. Habiba would remain for thirty-three years at the Manufacture of Lodève.
During all these years, she’d taken hundreds of photographs of the weavers…photos that reveal the daily life of a female work environment run by men who are themselves “pieds noirs”, French-born in Algeria under French rule and now returned to France.
Above all, her photos reveal a critical and political outlook and bear witness to the community segregation imposed on these women. With her art work, Habiba exposes this discrimination, but at the same time she sets herself free from it. Today she paints, sculpts and exhibits.
AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING: French version only
Festivals and Awards:
* 2022: official selection at Festival ITINERANCES (April, France)
* 2022: official selection at Festival "Visions sociales" (May, France)