Artists present their works at end of Assilah Forum’s art workshop

ASSILAH - The arts workshop came to an end on Saturday following the participation of 28 local and international artists as part of the 46th session of the Assilah Forum Foundation.

Abdelkader Melehi, the supervisor of the workshop, said that artists contributed with several artworks, from painting to engravings and lithography.

“Each year is quite special in terms of artworks due to the uniqueness of each artist and their experience,” said Melehi.

Emerging British-Moroccan artist Yasmine Dickens, who is taking part in the workshop with her mother Shoa, told Middle East Online that she had taken part in children’s workshops since she was three-years old.

“I made all the steps towards becoming a fully-fledged artist. I would just sit in here and do painting. So, actually I’m used to it,” said Dickens.

The young artist, who graduated from the Central Saint Martins College of Arts in London, said she drew her inspiration from her mother.

Her painting is a blend of poet Mahmoud Darwish’s rhyme and an antique cigarette shell, which is symbolic as a specific thought she is having.

“I paint the themes that are usually as surroundings of life, fragility and the movement of life,” said Dickens.

“It's usually just like a discussion of sort of between life-and-death and the the gray area between that the fragility of life and symbolism of life and inspired by sort of Dutch vanitas paintings and memento Mori’s, and those paintings usually have lots of symbolism in it,” she said.

Ivorian artist Médéric Tury told Middle East Online that he came to Assilah because there's a story: the artists of the world gathering here.

“I had to come here, uh, to gather a bit of that artistic energy from Morocco and then go back. I mean, it's much more spiritual even for me, it goes beyond the physical, there are stages where you have to get into the Moroccan spirit. You have to pass through Assilah,” said Tury.

“But for me, it was my duty to create that chapter. I think I’m the first Ivorian to take part in this festival, which is an honour for me,” he said.

The theme he drew is called "The Totems That Speak."

“In several African regions there has been an ancestral story, the Totem is neither an adoration nor a religion, no. It's a kind of a wise man with whom we share words… we could say it's the old wise men,” said Tury.

“I think the "Totems" represent a bit the word that we need to have today. There is no more dialogue, we don't speak anymore, everything is replaced by action, war, everything is action. And for me, it is essential that I speak about the "Totem" positively. There are proverbs that I draw inspiration from for my work, but it's a real work of communication, dialogue and exchange,” he explained.

Tury said that he doesn’t like barriers because he is a nomad and a hybrid of all the different cultures from which he draws inspiration.

“The reason I'm in Morocco is because I'm also inspired by Moroccan history, the earth, the green, and all, to integrate into my work,” said the Ivorian artist.

“The Totems are precisely characters that are a mix of street art, tribal art, primitive art, cubism… and all, all this energy from my experience that I put it into my work,” he added.