Femme du Maroc

“Femmes du Maroc” or “Women of Morocco”, started as a series of eleven monotype prints before evolving into the bronze sculpture of a Moroccan woman going forward: determined, courageous and responsible. 
 

In 2012, I spent five weeks traveling around Morocco. Even though I had been around Middle Eastern women before, it puzzled me that I could not make direct eye contact with local women. They seemed so jovial and warm amongst themselves. I wanted to be part of it.

After a few weeks observing, I understood why I could not cross the line: I always had my husband or the local male guide in proximity. Once alone, I was able to establish eye contact and received an invitation to join into their daily rituals; which in turn helped me understand who they were.

Upon my return, I felt the need to record this experience through Monotype prints.

At the beginning, the prints are dark because they appeared so: totally vertical, wrapped up into black cloth and impenetrable. They are real but ghostly. 

Then slowly they are revealed. The prints are larger, colors appear expressing what is hiding behind their wraps. They are extremely gregarious, have a very strong sense of community and delight in it. They control that world.

A year later, five very large Monotypes followed. The “Moroccan Women” were making their way out from my mind into my physical space. The journey toward a sculpture had begun. 

In the spring of 2017, I unveiled the first bronze of “Femme du Maroc”.