Ahmed Merzagui

Ahmed Merzagui belongs to what is called the “Real” Generation that lived in Algeria during the Dark Decade, in the middle of gunshots, fateful fear, riffles, blood, and fratricide. It is the generation of the 80s and 90s, Algeria’s millennials who missed out on their childhood or adolescence and lived through the “terrorism era” without truly understanding it. Their collective memory is marked by horrors, and their Algerian identity is forged by a bloody and dark chapter of history. The new generation in Algeria was born in an era of peace and stability; Abdelaziz Bouteflika's presidency. It is the Algerian Gen Z or the “Boutefteens", as the artist likes to call them. Boutefteens were utterly disconnected from politics and decision-making and lived their whole life under the same regime until 2019, when a will for change exploded; The Hirak movement. For “Boutefteens”, an entire life in peace was ironically just a presidential career. The book is a journey and an exploration of young people’s emotions and ways of thinking. It is a study of the emerging Algerian identity, a look at the differences, a transmission of facts, and a link to political events and future viewpoints.