The vision of the world that the artists share with us has grown out of a long history, traces of which can be seen in the art of today. During antiquity, what is today Morocco was inhabited by various populations – Berber, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine and Jewish – before being Islamicised by Arabs.

After the 1st century AD, King Juba II reconciled the heritage of the Berber rulers with the protection of imperial Rome. A few centuries later, Idris I founded an independent state in 788, thereby initiating a long dynastic tradition. The Idrisid dynasty saw the creation, in particular, of one of the oldest universities in the world, Al-Karaouine, in Fes, an important centre of knowledge that became a hub of the Arab world in the fields of science, philosophy and theology. Other Berber and then Cherifian dynasties left their imprint on the history of Morocco by helping the tradition of strong royal power to become established and the development of a culture specific to this region, which was on a par with the world’s great cultural centres.

These two thousand years of history led to the emergence of a strong cultural identity while establishing the idea of a supreme, undisputed power, be it that of the monarchy or, at the family level, that of a father or brother. This relationship to power has been an important factor over the centuries, helping to establish the notion of obedience that is a fundamental principle for Moroccans. Today Moroccan people are learning to choose and to decide for themselves, and it is easy to see why this learning process – which is bound up with universal values – has prompted interest, excitement and hope among intellectuals and artists.

The works of socially engaged artists of today are in one sense a reaction to the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s, a period that saw the number of dictatorships increase throughout the world. They reflect a freedom of expression that is relatively young, which endows them with a force, honesty and strength that is  not always to be found in the networks of global art. They tackle universal and abstract questions as concrete issues that affect everyday life and ordinary people.