Adel Abdessemed, Algerian, born 1970
Queen Mary II, La mère, 2007
This scrap metal assemblage sculpture, by Algerian Artist Adel Abdessemed, is a scale model of the British ocean liner, Queen Mary II. While not an exact replica of the famous ship, this model is still much larger than a human being. This size, along with the materials of its composition, creates an internal tension within the piece: though it superficially resembles a powerful ship from a massive international imperial force, it contains more similarities with the roughly hewn vessels that refugees use to escape to these imperial cores. The internal conflict of this piece thus draws even more attention to the external conflicts of capitalist imperialism on the whole. These refugees must escape to the imperial core away from problems (such as social unrest exacerbated by climate change) that are a direct result of the capitalist exploitation in their homelands. Label by Maxwell Cloe