Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Morocco has recorded more than 940,000 infections and over 14,500 deaths. Currently, more than 22 million of the 36 million inhabitants have been fully vaccinated.
Tabit Rida is a young self-taught photographer from Marrakech. During the lockdowns that began in the spring of 2020, he took to the streets to witness the transformation of a tourist destination where no one came.
If the pandemic sent the city’s economy into crisis, it was a unique opportunity for the photographer to rethink and look at an urban landscape usually dominated by crowds with new eyes. The photos of Marrakech, in times of stillness they arise from the pleasure of solitude and stillness. People seem to move in slow motion until they become sculptures that blend with the environments that surround them. Juxtaposing the videos he recorded with the phone to the photos, Rida tells us that time hasn’t really stopped and everything will move again because human resistance is a natural phenomenon.
Marrakech, in times of stillness is exhibited at the Murate art district in Florence, until November 20. The exhibition was inaugurated during the twelfth edition of Middle East now, the festival dedicated to contemporary Middle Eastern culture which took place from 28 September to 3 October.
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