The Council of the Moroccan Community Living Abroad (CCME) in partnership with the Council of the Rabat-Hassan Borough, pays tribute from June 8th to 30 June, to the French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui. The opening of the exhibition “in the pathway of Leila Alaoui” took place on Friday evening 9 June : her family and relatives participated to the event.
Leila Alaoui, was killed in a terrorist attack on January 18, 2015 in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina Faso. The artist was known through her travels around the world where she immortalized what could be called « an instant of humanity ».
In 2008, she realized No Pasara, a series about young people trying to reach Europe, “but end up burning their identity, their past and often their lives,” she wrote. She then realizes “Crossings”, videos on the pathways of sub-saharans migrants in Morocco. In 2013, the artist worked on the Syrian refugees from Beirut .
Tribute to Leila Alaoui: testimonies
The testimonies have highlighted the humanity of Leila Alaoui. In his opening address, Youssef Haji, Exhibition Coordinator and CCME advisor, paid tribute to the human qualities of Leila Alaoui’s for her struggle for minorities.
Agdal-Ryad council chair Badia Bennani was thankful to the CCME for choosing Mahaj Ryad to host this exhibition, which pays tribute to an “outstanding artist who has devoted her life to humanity “.
Mr. Mustapha Idbihi, a friend of Leila Alaoui’s Family, trade unionist and a member of the association in France, spoke on behalf of the Leila Alaoui Foundation. In a poignant testimony, he remembered his last exchanges with the artist as she contacted him to organize interviews with Renault workers and Moroccan railway workers of the French railway society (SNCF). Leila Alaoui wanted to talk about the misery of these migrants and the discrimination they had suffered for years in a report that she never had the time to finish…
“We chose to organize this event during the month of Ramadan to say no to terrorism, hatred and violence,” said for his part Mr. Abdellah Boussouf, Secretary General of the CCME in his opening speech where he described Leila Alaoui as a “martyrdom of the Moroccan immigration”.
“This exhibition is an opportunity to pay tribute to the artist Leila Alaoui and, through her, to all the victims of terrorism and violence in Paris, Nice, Brussels, Canada …, he said, adding that” we chose to do this open-air exhibition to say that we care about life and that we are not afraid ” .
Mr Boussouf said that “Leila Alaoui’s work dealt with issues that have become universal debates, such as migration, freedom of movement and identities”.
“We will pursue the struggle of Leila Alaoui for the rights of migrants and minorities and against terrorism and violence that have no connection with Islam, as His Majesty King Mohammed VI affirmed in his speech of the 20 August 2015, because Islam is a project of life and not a project of death, “concluded Mr. Boussouf.
In the thirty photographs and 10 texts, Leila Alaoui reminds us of one of the fundamental articles of the universal charter of human rights: “Everyone has the right to move freely and choose his residence within a State and everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. “
CCME
