A female model wearing a pink and red pinstriped Moroccan djellaba and white cowboy boots straddles two giant green Moroccan stars; she looks like a human Moroccan flag, albeit the reference to the American Mid-West. An African model wearing a pearly white thobe, traditional red Moroccan cap and Statue of Liberty sunglasses, poses like the famous New York monument. A smile made of sfenj, traditional Moroccan doughnuts, levitates mid-air against a landscape of desert, arid mountain and the perfect blue sky with fluffy white clouds.
These pieces from Moroccan-Belgian photographer Mous Lamrabat’s latest exhibition Homesick, showing at Loft Art Gallery in Marrakech from 30 January to 15 March 2025, capture the imagination, wackiness and originality that the artist is loved for.
Loft Art Gallery’s co-founder Yasmine Berrada told The New Arab that the exhibition coincides with the gallery’s first anniversary and Mous Lamrabat is undoubtedly one of their most important artists, who they have been working with for four years now.
The 41-year-old photographer, who left Morrocco for Belgium with his family at the age of two, is known for encapsulating what it means to be a third culture kid through his distinctive portraiture style of photography, combining traditional Moroccan clothing and symbols with nods to Western pop culture, brands and fashion.
Take, for example, one of his portraits in which four men stand against a mountain wearing American basketball jerseys over white thobes, Islamic prayer caps on their heads. It’s fun, it’s interesting and in many of his pictures, the work is dynamic.
In one photo, the head of one female African model donning an earring of the map of Africa emerges from a lake. In another, a red chiffon scarf is captured floating mid-air over a model. Alongside Mous Lamrabat’s use of Western props and Moroccan attire is the use of movement.
This latest body of art makes a change to Mous’s day job as a fashion photographer, which he says he also greatly enjoys. When shooting for a fashion editorial, he has to deliver to a particular brief and deadline, but interestingly, he says that it is those extra shots he takes once the shoot is officially over – the experimental shots he doesn’t mean to be part of the editorial – that often make it onto the magazine pages.
And being experimental and free is what Mous says his artwork is all about. He took a month off work, went home to Morrocco, took his SIM card out and revisited what it meant to work freely with his camera.
“I think this exhibition is different because it was not really prepared,” he shares with The New Arab. “With previous exhibitions, I’d usually work with ideas I had, write them down and then execute those ideas. With this, I worked in a freer way. I was like, ‘Let’s get bored, let’s keep our minds empty and let’s see what happens.’”
He adds, “I asked myself what would be the result if I didn’t feel any pressure or obligation. The same kind of effect if you are locked up for three months in a studio. When they open the door after three months, what would be the result?”
Homesick is not only about Mous Lamrabat’s longing to be home in Morocco, a feeling which he says has only been growing stronger, it is evidently also about being African. He says he feels there are many layers to his cultural identity – being Belgian, Moroccan, North African, Arab and African. But it is his African side that he feels increasingly more connected to.
“I feel more African than I feel Arab so I will always see my home base as Morocco, Africa,” he says. “I’ll always try to celebrate that because I think Africa still needs a lot of attention, and I feel connected to Africa much more than I feel connected to the Middle East. I love the Middle East, but I feel like our Moroccan culture and traditions are far more deeply rooted in Africa than the Middle East. Africa has always been quite close to my heart.”
While the State of Liberty sunglasses look like the type you might pick up for a few dollars from a roadside souvenir stall in New York, there is nothing gimmicky about Mous Lamrabat’s work. He shares that the group of African models he works with, who are immigrants to Morocco, have become his second family.
“There’s three or four people that I always shoot with. They understand my work,” he says. “The first time people [look at my work] they might think that I’m making fun of them or it’s ridiculous because of all of these props. Sometimes, people ask me why I don’t always shoot Moroccans. But I feel these models are Moroccan.”
On Mous Lamrabat’s Instagram profile, you immediately notice some particularly special pieces of photography. Like a model donning a traditional red Moroccan hat and a djellaba in the shape of the Palestinian flag. In another, manicured fingers painted with the Palestinian flag do the peace sign against a keffiyeh.
“You know, I did those things because you can’t ignore [what is happening in Palestine],” he shares. “If horrible things are happening around you, isn’t it obvious that it affects you also creatively? I sometimes get comments like, ‘You’re quite political in your work.’ I’m not political, I just have a heart,” he tells The New Arab.
“When I have an idea and think this could be a cool shot, and you’ve been seeing images of Palestine the whole day, the image will be for Palestine,” Mous continues.
“For me, it was common sense, but also, it was a coping mechanism. My thoughts are dark. I want to quit everything. I don’t want to live in this world anymore. But this is not possible. You can’t end your life just because all these things are happening, so you need to find a way of coping with it.
“For a lot of people, it’s easier to just ignore it and say, ‘I have nothing to do with it’ or, ‘I don’t have an opinion,’ but the subject of Palestine has been close to us since we were little. It will always be a soft spot for all of us. If you don’t speak about it or you just choose to ignore it, I think it is a very cowardly thing to do.”
Homesick is running at Loft Art Gallery in Marrakech until 15 March 2025.
[Cover photo: Touch The Sky (2024) by Mous Lamrabat [Courtesy of Loft Art Gallery]]
Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press
Follow her on X: @UNDERYOURABAYA
