Passages, Fez

PASSAGES, work in progress
“FES”, how that word resonates for me! It brings back memories of family holidays spent at my grandparents’ home in the Basque country, where every morning at breakfast, my grandmother would recount lively stories of her family’s adventures in Morocco. Only one year old when her parents emigrated to Morocco in 1910 in search of a new life, she grew up in a large family. In the 30s, she, her husband and 5 children made Fes their home and moved to Batha at the very doors of the Medina. There she taught at the lycée Moulay Idriss. My mother was to live the first twenty years of her life there as well, and her anecdotes too contributed to the mystique of the city…..
As a homage to my grandmother and to link past and present, I have chosen to photograph the alleyways of the medina. Walking in their footsteps, losing myself in a detail, a shape, colours, textures or some effect of the light by way of evoking the spirit of the place, is also a way for me to locate myself in my family’s Moroccan story.
The overlapping images in my photographs resulting from the superimposition of exposures are a way to highlight the faded colours, the passage of time, and to create quirky compositions which echo the many ways people live and cohabit in the medina. In some of my photographs, the composition – naïve and spontaneous – seeks to capture the atmosphere created by the condition of the old buildings, often patched up with some improvised repairs and naïve street art.
These photographs, which assemble the various notions I evoke in the word ‘Passages’, are presented as several series.
I have chosen handmade Japanese paper for its texture and capacity to give a soft and subtle effect. Its tactile surface also contributes to convey the spirit of the place.
This project was initiated during an art residency on ‘Space and Perception’ at the French Institute in Fez in November 2020.