Art4Peace exhibition in the Fez Medina

"There are so many layers of meaning in everyone of the works and they will certainly reward the viewer who spends time contemplating them," - Curator Rose Demir.

Linda Zahava - Khamsa - (detail)

The Art4Peace exhibition at Cafe Clock, features the work of 16 American artists living in Morocco. It explores themes of peace, poverty, progress, diversity and tolerance as perceived through the lens of contemporary Moroccan culture.

Thanks to Jess Stephens from Clock Culture, The View from Fez had the opportunity to view the exhibition, talk with the curator and bring you photographs of some of the work. You can click on the images to enlarge them.

Dominique Ellis - Symbolic Laundry
(painted phone card abstractions)
Detail ( below)

Artists; Leslie Andrus, Karen Christiansen, Lindsey Dunnagan, Ned Epps, Dominique Ellis, Michael Frels, Rachelle Giard, Jessica Havilcek, Laura Hoppenjans, Janiela Howalt, Nate Johnson, Kristina Larson, Olga Shvayetskaya, Jong Son, Anna Witacre, Linda Zahava.

Guest Curator: Rose Demir

The driving force behind the exhibition is the guest curator, Rose Demir, a professional curator who has worked at the San Antonio Museum. Rose says that having so many gifted artists in the country at one time was too good an opportunity to let slip and so she approached the individual artists with the notion of creating an exhibition.

The response was overwhelmingly positive and as the artists got to work, Rose set about finding a venue to display the work. Fortunately she contacted Jess Stephens and arranged that Cafe Clock would display the results.

"There are so many layers of meaning in everyone of the works that they will certainly reward the viewer who spends time contemplating them," Rose says.

It is an exhibition worth visiting.

Jessica Havlicek - Ait Merghad Woman
(muslin, fiberfill, beads, embroidery, knitting, metal & paint)

Anna Whiteacre - She Sat
(watercolour & ink on paper)

Kristina Larson - Adberzack, Hijab, Spicy Bread, Ait Hamza
(Acrylic on board)

Dominique Ellis - Typography of Hearsay
(printmaking)

Not all of the artists had originally set out to create a work of art. Linda Zahava explained that her work - Khamsa (pictured below) was originally done as part of a meditation on peace and cross-cultural values. "A prayer for peace," she says, as the Khamsa symbol is found in both Jewish and Muslim traditions." Her drawing on the traditional henna motifs struck a chord with local Moroccan women who were quick to praise her work.

Linda Zahava - Khamsa.

The Auction

An auction of the works on display at Cafe Clock will be held at 5pm on Wednesday the 19th of November and the proceeds will benefit the Club Femme Association (Sefrou) dedicated to supporting at-risk women who are challenged by poverty, illiteracy, prostitution, drug abuse, and homelessness.

Photographs: Sandy McCutcheon


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news