Surviving in Algeria is a constant challenge that leaves the nation’s population without hope. Self-immolation is all too common; those who survive must face not only physical and psychological suffering, but also the disapproving eye of communities who consider suicide a sin. To make matters worse, the Algerian state has criminalised immolation, so survivors must therefore face prosecution. ‘Immolations’ attempts to explain the inexplicable, to free the speech so that a debate is set up through means other than fire. In my eyes, this self-destructive act reveals what Algerians have become: frustrated, disjointed, far from their dreams and from what they could become. Algeria’s people live a deep malaise, a sort of fatality that is no longer questioned, which has now become integrated into the national personality. It seems the time has come to ask ourselves questions – all the questions. To try to grasp how we have arrived at this point.