Bouffard’s practice elegantly and enigmatically combines sound, video, and text to vividly map how deeply traumatic experiences transcend geographies and generations. His extensive research and innovative experimental work range from immense, large-scale installations to the meticulous development of “sound drawing”. Now, Bouffard explores the profound phenomena of Post-Memory and Inherited Memory in [Un]Reliable Witness, offering a poignant reflection on his experiences as the child of a war refugee.

Originally developed in collaboration with King’s College London’s prestigious Department of War Studies, [Un]Reliable Witness powerfully conveys the harsh realities of displacement, conflict, and exclusion across diverse beliefs, generations, and geographies. This evocative work reaches the masses through an intricate blend of sculpture, hieroglyphic-like “sound drawings”, compelling video, thoughtful text, and an interactive sound installation.

View the installation…

We connect with Dom to talk through the key concepts, advice for emerging artists and concepts he would like to explore in future work.

Read the interview…

Hey Dom! Congratulations on your exhibition. Can you explain the key concepts and why they are central to your work?

Thank you. The central themes of ‘[Un]Reliable Witness’ are intergenerational trauma and the idea of Post-Memory, It’s basically about how traumatic events, such as war, genocide, abuse, have reverberations across generations and how they can colonise the lives of people who weren’t present at the original event. It’s also about how the personal can eventually become the political. For me, the roots of the subject are connected to my family’s experience as refugees from the Algerian Independence War, but we are all watching these processes play out in conflicts around the world right now, and all these events will have reverberations far into the future.

What do you hope visitors take away from experiencing [Un]Reliable Witness?

When I was young I would watch The Open University on television early in the morning, I would imitate algebraic equations from maths lectures, watch bits of ‘Waiting for Godot’ and just be fascinated by things I didn’t understand but which made me want to draw on the walls and disappear into mental ‘worlds’. ‘[Un]Reliable Witness’ is like that: It’s a space where I’ve gone instinctively and innocently wherever I feel like going, through sounds, drawing, video, sculpture, text. It’s also where I’ve returned to the moments that set the wheels of my life in motion, like discovering an old box of letters or photos. When you meet someone who can relate to a powerful experience you’ve had, maybe something deeply buried, you can experience a sense of connection which is like a waterfall or a flood of emotions, like something being unblocked. I hope that the audience will find something of value that they can use to process their own histories.

How do you see the role of art in opening dialogues about traumatic memories and global conflicts?

There are so many reasons why art has an important part to play. Dr Pablo de Orellana, who collaborated as the political theorist on ‘Echo Effect,’ (the centre piece of the exhibition) talks about ‘the unspeakable’. I come from a family who experienced catastrophic violence and the loss of absolutely everything and that kind of trauma occupies a space many people can’t relate to. People don’t ‘talk’ through that stuff, they need other ways to process their experiences, otherwise it can come out in some very dark ways. Art Refuge, an important charity who have been helping displaced people since the Bosnian War are holding a workshop at the exhibition on the 10th July. They would tell you that people who have lost everything in many ways lose their sense of identity. Simple creative acts like typing their name on a piece of paper can have a profound, therapeutic effect for someone in that situation. The personal tends to become the political and I think art helps people to meditate on how they become or avoid becoming part of that kind of metastasising process.

Can you share a piece of advice for emerging artists?

Focus on simple truths that matter to you and trust in the power that people will find in that. You can’t predict how people will react, but authenticity is something people feel and relate to in their own ways.

What are your future plans or upcoming projects?

I have a number of current projects: an art documentary with film editor Fred Baillod (my cousin), a major project with Kings College London’s Department of War Studies, a hybrid ‘opera’ with Italian artist Adelaide Cioni and I’m devising a performance piece about children of prisoners. My ‘lockdown’ album ‘Killing Horizon’ (a collaboration with American composer-violinist Bryan Senti) is coming out on Naïve Records in October.

Are there any themes or issues you haven’t yet explored, but are interested in exploring through your art and music?

I’m interested in neurodiversity, partly for personal reasons and also because I think it’s a fascinating and emerging subject with huge implications with how we contextualise society. I’m very fluid in my nature, like an unstable element. It’s something that has been stressful at times in my life, for me and for the people around me, but I’m beginning to embrace it and look for the strengths rather than the problems with it. I have a feeling these maybe subjects better approached through ‘performance’. I’m excited to start experimenting.