Medina, people and places

Medina people and places

“the green eyed photographer” somewhere outside Fez, this street-photographer with his exceptional beautiful eyes who I met at a waterfall, a tourist-attraction with many playing and splashing people around

“the son of a tanner” I was instantly moved by the touching, cheerful and innocent expression of this boy sitting in the gateway to a tannary, it turned out to be the son of the owner of the tannery who invited us for tee..

“the owner of the tannery” this is the man, the father of the boy we met, who invited us for tee in his very modest small space at the tannery

“inward looking” the pregnant and very kind cook/kitchen-maid from the riad (hotel) I stayed: “inward looking eyes”

“focused moment” a bunch of streetkids noisy and lively playing around on the street after school: in this shot one of these boys trapped in short focused moment

“proud and self-confident” traditional Moroccan musician proud and self-confident outside in the street waiting for his turn to perform on an initiation celebration

“selling oranges” the street seller who came along with oranges just on the moment when he appeared in the door opening

““gardien d’immeuble” Abdelkhabek Boukhers, the very distinguished artist and “gardien d’immeuble” (caretaker) at Palais El Glaoui, a by the French owner abandoned old and beautiful palace in Fez, most probably hastily left behind after Morocco became a kingdom in 1956 and the French protectorate ended

“wisdom” this woman selling cigarettes in a marketplace who hit me by her difficult to describe personalty; I should say dignified and noble in spite of her humble status, one of these seldom met people who reached wisdom

“strenuous effort” a hard working tanner in a nearly not to describe work environment; dirty and lets say: ‘quite unhealthy’,“sweating blood” so to say

“a colleague” a young tanner working in the same tannery

“Redouan” Redouan, now and then my guide in Fez. To open doors... He is less dark then he looks on the foto, actually quite friendly...

“the little son of Merieme” son of the manager from the riad, where I stayed

“selling tickets for the temple” (not too far from Fez) in the ticket-office where the king is looking on approvingly from above

“Merieme” and last but not least, Merieme, my friendly, trustworthily and beloved manager of the riad

May 1012 My first time in Morocco, arriving in Fez, in the old medieval center, ‘the Medina’, and nearly immediate bewildered and fascinated by the strenght, beauty and survival instinct of the inhabitants living and working in this crazy overcrowded labyrint of little streets and intens human activity. Soon I felt at home and had no problem with asking people on the spot if they didn’t mind if I made their portrait. Nearly nobody refused. I was very much focused on discovering what’s life for people living here, who they are and how they manage to survive and moreover... at what costs. The people I met: Merieme, manager of the ‘riad’ I stayed, the (pregnant) cook/kitchen-maid in the same place, the street seller (oranges) who came along, traditional musicians outside in the street waiting for their turn to perform on an initiation celebration, a street (school) kid, a boy sitting in a gateway to a tannery, a tanner working in quite horrible circumstances, and outside Fez the street-photographer with his astonishing green eyes who I met at a waterfall, a tourist attraction with many playing and splashing people around, a woman selling cigarettes in a marketplace ‘somewhere’ and at least but not last the distinguished painter and “gardien d’immeuble” (caretaker) of a by the French owner abandoned old palace in Fez, hastily left behind after Morocco became a kingdom in 1956 and the French protectorate ended. We see different kind of feelings and attitudes in these portraits. These different expressions together are giving us a glimpse of what’s life about in Morocco. Robert Evert Houkes

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