MOROCCO
wanderlust.co.uk April 2020 129along with the omnipresent gusts of
wind known locally as the alizee, that
help create ideal conditions for
windsurfing, kitesurfing and surfing.
It’s also developed into a hub for its
own unique style of contemporary
Moroccan art. When the Danish
collector Frédéric Damgaard arrived in
Essaouira in the 1960s, he noticed how
similar the two- and three-dimensional
nature-focused art of these Swiri
fishermen and farmers was to the
indigenous art of other cultures. You
quickly see what he meant, with many
self-taught local artists continuing to
produce colourful, naive work.
Among the trash and treasure of the
Souk Joutiya, or flea market, in the
former industrial quarter, I found
artists’ ateliers surrounded by broken
TVs, discarded oars and scrap metal.
Inside these fishermen’s huts turned
makeshift studios, I discovered
a world of vivid colour and curious
forms, improvised sculptures and
imaginary creatures, painted on
canvas, wood, even animal skin. One
artist, Abdelaziz Baki, takes inspiration
from nature, upcycling objects and
turning them in to brightly coloured
sculptures of fantastical creatures;
Azeddine Nasik creates simple scenes
on offcuts of wood; meanwhile
Mustapha Filali paints depictions of
rural life, filled with humour.
Like many of my encounters along
the Atlantic coast, Essaouira was
unscripted and surprising. To get here,
I’d passed through a confluence of
civilisations, everything from Moroccan
crafts to Moorish architecture,
Portuguese citadels to French design.
This stretch of coastline is rich in
Amazigh and Arabic culture, but with
European, Andalusian, Jewish and
African threads of influencejustas
tightly interwoven andvibrantas the
finest Moroccan carpet. ⊲