The works on show, all entitled 'Feux', are made from charcoal. While the material bears connotations of destruction, it is also notably used as a tool for drawing; for creation and description. The works in this series describe the atrocities committed in the Congo under the reign of Leopold II, the Belgian king who claimed the area as a colony. Six sculptures take the shape of doors. Each is a bas-relief showing tortured and disfigured colonial subjects, casting the door as a kind of threshold to Hell. These allegorical works also conjure the image of Adam and Eve being cast out of paradise, as depicted in Masaccio’s fresco at the Brancacci Chapel, Florence. Abdessemed has also amassed charred sculptures of severed hands, offering a testament to the sheer quantity of human suffering and loss of life precipitated by colonial rule. Simultaneously, two spherical sculptures in charred wood present an abstract interpretation of history, evoking the abstraction of historical violence over time.