モロッコの風景を塗り替えるストリートアート

【ラバトＡＦＰ＝時事】モロッコの首都ラバトで、アーティストのオマル・ラムジ氏（２５）は、黄色のベストとペンキのついた靴を身に着け、最新作のために絵筆を選んでいる──最新作が描かれるのは、市内にある家の外壁だ。（写真はモロッコ首都ラバトのストリートアートフェスティバル「ジダー＜Ｊｉｄａｒ＞」で、壁画を描くオマル・ラムジ氏）
　モロッコ国内の多くの町は、ラムジ氏のような新しい世代の作家が手掛ける壁画によって、その様相が変化している。
　ラバトの大通りや狭い路地を歩くと、あちこちで塗られたばかりの作品に出くわす。描かれるのは伝説上の架空の生き物や本物そっくりの人物の肖像画や日常生活の一コマだ。
　先週、ラバトではストリートアートフェスティバル「ジダー（Ｊｉｄａｒ）」が開催され、国内外のアーティストたちが集合した。Ｊｉｄａｒとはアラビア語で「壁」を意味する。
　ラムジ氏は労働者が多く住む地区、ヤアクーブ・マンスールにある家の外壁をキャンバスに最新作を描いた。暗闇の中に浮かぶ、６個の耳と緑とピンクの肌を持つ男の絵だ。描かれている雲は、オランダの巨匠ビンセント・ファン・ゴッホの作品「星月夜」を想起させる。
　ストリートアートは２０００年初めごろから、モロッコの商業都市カサブランカで盛んになり始めた。
　それから１０年以上が経過し、２０１３年に開催されたストリートアートのイベント「スバガバガ」で、一般の人々の壁画に対する関心はさらに高まった。
　これらのイベントでアーティスティックディレクターを務めたサラ・マロウリ氏は、「最初は非常に大変だった。グラフィティやステンシルアートと違い、こうした壁画は系統だった作業や手続きが必要となる」と語る。
　「当時は、誰も公共の場で作業をしたがりませんでした。不安材料が多かったのです」
　だがマロウリ氏は、住民も公共機関も壁画への関心を高めていると話す。近年では壁画作品が観光の中心地マラケシュのような大都市だけでなく、地方都市の壁をも彩るようになっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/30-12:55）

Artist Omar Lhamzi donned a bright yellow vest and paint-splattered shoes, selected a brush and set to work on his latest canvas -- the wall of a house in Morocco's seaside capital Rabat.
Lhamzi is one of a new generation of artists whose murals are changing the face of Morocco's cities.
A wander through Rabat's avenues and alleyways reveals an array of freshly painted works, in which larger-than-life fantasy creatures co-inhabit with realistic portraits and scenes of daily life.
Their creators flocked from across the North African kingdom and beyond to Rabat last week for Jidar -- Arabic for wall -- a festival dedicated to street art.
Lhamzi used the side of a house in the working-class district of Yaacoub Al Mansour for his latest work, a man with six ears and green and pink skin floating in darkness, with clouds that echo Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.
The 25-year-old, who goes by the alias Bo3bo3, completed his first murals in the seaside city of Agadir four years ago.
But he had not been expecting it to become his main field when he graduated in 2018 from the prestigious National School of Fine Arts in the northern city of Tetouan.
I never imagined that my work would be visible in the public space, he said.
Today, however, he covers walls with bright colours, creating a surrealist world full of references to skating and video games, breaking the monotony of the urban landscape.
- Growing interest -
In another part of the capital, Imane Droby perches on a stool in front of a school wall, tracing out a realistic portrait of a woman embroidering.
The 36-year-old from Casablanca says she, too, fell into painting murals sort of by accident.
I got a taste for it. It's great to transform a blank wall into a work of art, she said.
She added that street art is difficult for everyone but even more so for women. You have make double the effort to make your mark.
It is an art form that has flourished since the early 2000s in Morocco's commercial capital of Casablanca.
A decade later in 2013, the Sbagha Bagha festival stirred a new level of public interest in murals.
At first it was really complicated, because unlike graffiti or stencilling, painting murals requires organisation, said Salah Malouli, artistic director of Sbagha Bagha and Jidar.
At the time, nobody felt comfortable working in public. There was lots of apprehension.
But today both residents and institutions show more interest in murals, Malouli said, and in recent years the artworks have graced walls not just in big cities like tourist hub Marrakesh but also in more remote areas.
- Portraits erased -
The artworks are not always valued by landlords or the authorities.
The municipality of the northern port city of Tangiers sparked outrage over the summer by starting to erase a tribute to French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, who was killed in a 2016 jihadist attack in Burkina Faso. The authorities later reversed the decision.
Malouli said the artworks are most vulnerable in Casablanca, where flyposting often covers walls.
Public space is invaded by informal advertising, which complicates our work, he said.
Two works by Italian street artist Millo were erased in recent years.
Yet for the artists involved in Jidar, there is no question of giving up.
It's the price of working in public space -- you have to accept what happens, both good and bad, Malouli said.
Despite the challenges, Lhamzi sees street art as a way of learning to speak and listen to people.
And every year, the scene is growing, with new artists contributing to a collective wall -- just as Lhamzi and Droby started out.
For visual artist Yassine Balbzioui who managed the wall this year, the art form has wings.
In the street, everything is possible, he said.