Laassilat : A Collective Archive

Bouskoura, 2021
La Serre, Atelier de l’Observatoire

This project was conducted in collaboration with the children of Laâssilat, a rural village situated in the periurban area around Casablanca. Through a program of participatory actions which included walks, workshops and gatherings, we aimed to build a body of work which would constitute a collective archive of the village and its surroundings. We collected images, plant materials and miscellaneous artefacts found in the region and explored them using various darkroom techniques and analog film processes, including silver-based emulsion, plant-based film developer, and phytogram on 16mm film. This collective archive documents the changes which affect the social and natural ecosystems of the region, as well as the transformation of the landscape induced by man-made action and industrial extraction in the area.

This project was conceived during the Memory of Plants and Insects residency organised by Atelier de l’Observatoire in May 2021.

The results will be exhibited as part of the Collective Museum in Casablanca in 2022.

Zine made in collaboration with the kids