Travel with SKETCH MOROCCO

 With borders closed and plans postponed there is a lot of talk at the moment about the travel industry as a whole, and more specifically how important SUSTAINANBLE and RESPONSIBLE tourism  is going to be moving forward – I thought it would be interesting to speak to a few people in the travel industry in Morocco to find out how they are intergrating these values into their business, while at the same time giving you an idea of the diversity on offer as a traveller in Morocco.

The first of these posts has been written by Oliver from Sketch Morocco – a new venture set up to create artist retreats in Morocco this year.

Well the passion and idea is still there, but like so many things its just been delayed a little . . . so have a read and start planning for 2021!

SKETCH MOROCCO

Visiting Morocco through the eyes of an artist

I’ve been travelling to Morocco for 12 years now. As an artist I find the country so

fascinating and inspiring. I would return from trips with a sketchbook and camera

roll full of amazing colours, patterns and moments which would find themselves

featuring in some way in my studio practice.

Living in London I’ve worked in a range of ‘day jobs’ from retail management to

travel until I settled into my career as an art teacher. A job that I love. Whilst

teaching at a school in West London where most of my students were Moroccan

and Algerian, I came to appreciate an intrinsic artistic sensibility that was

particular to students from this part of the world. They just seemed to ‘get it’ and

understand colour, composition and line. I felt that I learnt so much from

teaching these students, the classroom stopped being a hierarchical space and

transformed into a community of practice. We would chat, joke and have fun all

whilst learning from one another. The roles of teacher and student dissolved.

Whilst working at the school I continued to travel between Morocco and London

until one day in spring 2019 on a rooftop next to Bahia Palace I came up with the

idea for Sketch Morocco!

Sketch Morocco is about connecting creatively curious artists and designers

(professional or amateur) with Morocco. Creative weekend retreats in Morocco.

The weekend retreats initially will run in Marrakech (although we will be

extending to Tangier and Essaouira very soon!) with a series of workshops, trips

to inspiring locations and the chance to meet with and collaborate with local

artists and designers.

I’m very eager as an artist and teacher to use Sketch Morocco as a means to

decolonise our thinking around Art as a western construction to deconstruct and

dislodge the use of Moroccan culture by European artists of the past to construct

orientalist ‘otherness’. A main way that I want to do this is by engaging with local

artists and designers to teach and collaborate with guests of Sketch Morocco.

I want to question the role that Art has played in the development of twenty-first

century Orientalism and its manifestation in visual storytelling, and the interplay

between artist-subject-location: how does the western traveller and artist view

both themselves and others in the process of picturing Morocco in their work.

Eventually I would like to use the project to build up cultural exchange for

Moroccan and UK artists through exhibitions in the UK and in Morocco.

I had planned our first trip to take place in early 2020 but due to Covid-19 I’ve

had to push this back to Easter 2021. It’s been so frustrating to have to cancel

everything but actually lockdown has given me a chance to really consider what I

want Sketch Morocco to be and how I can create a responsible and sustainable

business. The time we’ve had now has been a time of listening. Via online

teaching I’ve had the most amazing conversations with my students about Black

Lives Matter and ways that we can address the wrongs of traditional art

education in the UK- this has directly fed into my plans for the project making me

feel much more confident about what Sketch Morocco is. I’ve also had time to

carefully research artists that create fascinating work in Morocco and engage

with them and share their work in our Sketch Morocco profiles. I’ve been talking

to artists such as Houda Terjuman, Myriam Au Citron, Soufiane Zarib, Norseen

Collective and Tarik Charrat to find out what inspires them about Morocco and

what ideas they might have to develop Sketch Morocco. I would like to make

artists like these a central part of the project.

art work by Myriam au Citron

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Although the media tells us this would be the worst time to start a business I

really think we have a unique opportunity to re-define what the travel industry is

for.