African Symphony: A mega-fresco illuminates the Rabat Museum of Modern Art

The mural that is in the process of being created on the facade of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat will be completed before the end of this month. It is a creation of artist-painter Moustapha Zoufri, originally from Nador and laureate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and the Superior School of Visual Arts in the city of Mons. The first brushstroke of this “African Symphony” fresco was given on January 26, 2023. The fresco is produced as part of the celebration of Rabat as the Cultural Capital of Africa, which in itself represents a vibrant tribute to the African continent, cradle of mankind and experiencing an artistic boom. The realization of this fresco, which bears the name “African Symphony”, is also a first step in an exhibition project at the Bab Rouah gallery in May 2023. The concept of this mural is original and crosses traditional Moroccan signs. (Arab-Islamic, Amazigh, Hassani and Hebrew) with traditional signs from the rest of Africa (the Adinkra signs from Guinea, the signs of the bogolans, traditional fabrics from Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and the raffias from the Kingdom of Congo, among other fabrics). It is a fusion inspired by authentic creations produced by craftsmen for various utilitarian, ritual, religious reasons, on jewelry, masks, carpets, textiles, tattoos, sacrifices, etc. “Personally, I avail of all of these signs for their aesthetic and plastic beauty, without any other ideological, cultural, religious or other exploitation”, said Moustapha Zoufri from the outset. The different linguistic or graphic signs used are stripped of their extra-cultural meanings and are at the service of aesthetic and plastic concerns. They are triggers of curiosity aiming at challenging the viewers and providing them with new and strange sensations. This is why the various graphic expressions of Moroccan heritage vibrate like pieces of music, which contributes to the transformation of the mural into a symphony made up of colored scores. “A painting that cannot be heard does not deserve to be painted and does not deserve to be exhibited or seen”, explains Zoufri. The dominant ocher in the realization of this fresco brings out the designs and shapes used in the basic products of Moroccan and African daily life. That said, the artist is called upon to avoid the redundancy of what is identical to the work of the craftsman. Physical effort combined with intellectual effort produces original forms and provokes new curiosities. “A wall fresco or a painting is a kind of choreography inspired by the direct contact that the artist has with his or her work”. “As for the substance of creativity, it relates to a purely mathematical process called in Arabic Morabaa Attawafouq (magic square) that Zoufri develops in the field of plastic art. It’s a ‘golden ratio’ which ensures me perfect and harmonious compositions”, he confided to our newspaper.

Ali KHARROUBI