Rabat – The Abla Ababou Gallery in Rabat has opened its summer exhibition “Alone Together.” Curated by Moroccan photographer Khalil Nemmaoui, the group show brings together 10 artists from Morocco and abroad to explore themes of identity, solitude, memory, and everyday life.
The Alone Together exhibition presents a wide range of photographic styles, from documentary to experimental, that offer intimate and personal perspectives on the world we live in today.
Through their different lenses, the artists reflect on what it means to be connected, or alone, in a rapidly changing society.
“It is a time of great change, filled with many personal and individual emotions,” curator Khalil Nemmaoui told Morocco World News.
“Instinctively, I chose 10 people whose work is completely different from one another, but in the end, based on what I thought, and which has, in a way, been emphasized, supported, and validated by the public,” he added.
A testimony about Morocco
Nemmaoui added that their work comes together to form a kind of “testimony” about the Morocco we are living in today.
One of the featured artists, Zineb Andress Arraki, presented a deeply personal series titled Les Gens de Peu (“People of Little Means”), capturing quiet moments from everyday Moroccan life.
She told MWN that she initially wanted to present another body of work. But it was Marie Soulama from Le Monde who pushed her to show this series.
“There’s a book called Les Gens de Peu by Pierre Sansot, and for me, he expresses so beautifully what it means to be ‘people of little means.’ This series illustrates that excerpt from his writing,” she explained.
The photos, taken in Morocco, form part of a wider project she hopes to continue internationally. “It explores architecture, but also objects,” she added. “For me, Qays and Layla are like the Romeo and Juliet of design.”
When asked why she chose to focus on “les gens de peu,” she replied: “Because, in fact, we are all les gens de peu. Because the shroud doesn’t have pockets. Because the only thing we truly have is the few square centimeters of our brains. Because we’re all going to die, and at some point, we need to be humble. There’s nothing left to rule over, and we’re all going to die.”
