Seeing Through Their Eyes
Suleika Mueller and Ardit Ademi
Look into the world of today’s Marrakech through Suleika Mueller and Ardit Ademi’s photo series. Each photograph, a harmonious composition and perfect cultural document, except for one thing…
A veil of blue and white fringe hides each face.
Who is there in Marrakech?
Who stands under the dimmed archway
framed by the arabesque shadows?
Who lives in that dynamically still world
walking through the blue, white and terracotta tones?
A shapeshifter of sorts?
No individual identity revealed,
no quotidian emotion seen.
Just the two minds behind the camera and
Marrakech in their midst.
In their new collaboration, MARRAKECH, artist Ardit Ademi and photographer Suleika Mueller document contemporary Marrakech culture while deconstructing the documentary medium. The challenge comes in the form of a mop-like mask made by Ademi to conceal the faces of each subject. Inspired by Issey Miyake’s ‘Pleats Please’ project, which sent photographer Yuriko Takagi around the world to capture diverse peoples wearing the collection, Ademi and Mueller gave the mask to different locals on the Marrakech streets.
With a subtle dégradé, the face covering seamlessly blends into each careful composition while it stands out as something foreign. It’s a provocation, a visual representation of the artistry at work and a bold unraveling of the documentary they created.
It was never truly today’s Marrakech, but just one beautiful version of it.
