Ariella Aïsha Azoulay is an artist and theorist known for her work on human rights, most notably her critical approach to photography and her profound engagement with ethical issues that explore the political and social implications of visual representation.

Un-Documented. Undoing Imperial Plunder foregrounds the long-lasting impact of colonialism in current relations between the West and its former colonies, seeking to debunk conventional narratives on cultural heritage and migration. The film is built upon the premise that while plundered cultural objects are carefully conserved in Western museums, people displaced from former colonies are often denied basic citizenship rights. Therefore, Azoulay exposes the paradoxical contrast in that which involves the treatment of objects and people from former colonial countries.

She draws from the documentary Les statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die, 1953) by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, which condemns how African art and Western art were treated differently under French colonialism. Azoulay pushes this issue further, arguing that plundered cultural objects are not only passive testimonies of history, but also contain the inextricable rights of the people to which they originally belonged. Through her concept of “potential history” she explores the possibilities of alternative narrations, where these rights can be re-activated.

Un-Documented, therefore, impels a reflection on the restitution of art and post-colonial justice and sets forth a reparation that extends beyond merely returning objects, suggesting that true reparation involves recognising and rectifying the power imbalances perpetuated by colonialism.