Moroccan Inspiration.

I haven't posted anything about my trip to Morocco yet. But since the other day I posted some of my design work, I thought this would be all too appropriate.

This picture was snapped toward the end of my trip, we had just finished up a long trip to Erfoud, which is a several hour drive. I snapped hundreds of pictures but I kept being taken back by the creativity and art that was in the form of murals on school walls along the way.

When I saw the murals on this particular school, I made my boyfriend pull over so I could take a picture. I stealthily snapped some pictures and started walking back to the car when a small man walked over and started speaking Arabic to me, when it was clear I was not an Arabic speaker, he tried some French. But being the paranoid person I am, I tried to just hurry back to the car and ignored the man. I was in a hurry after all.

When I got back to the car he knocked on the car window and started speaking Moroccan Arabic to my boyfriend. I soon learned that he was the artist of the murals! All he wanted to do was sell me a drawing. Silly girl.

10 Dirhams (1 dollar) bought me this beautiful drawing. He said it was of a "shy woman" and an "emancipated woman" sharing peace together. I was so inspired by his persistence and the beauty of his work that I promised myself I was going to carry his message over to the states.

So when Islam Day came around at the University and I found out the panel was about women in Islam I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to reinterpret his message in the United States. The word in arabic there is "salam" which means peace.

It isn't hard to figure out why so many European artists spent years in Morocco to find inspiration. I wasn't even looking for it and it persistently managed to find me.

-Angela