Milan, intolerant people vandalize works of artist Karim El Maktafi. And he reacts with art

Reacting to vandalism dictated by intolerance -- with art. That’s what young Italian-Moroccan photographer Karim El Maktafi (Desenzano del Garda, 1992), author of some shots exhibited in Milan for the Fantasia public art project, promoted by Other Size Gallery and curated by Giusi Affronti, did. The two photographs depict two Moroccan horsemen and were daubed with two crosses, affixed on posters over the weekend. The works had been installed last Wednesday, April 14, for the exhibition project of Milan’s Other Size Gallery, which, in order to avert the risk of seeing its space closed due to the pandemic, presented an exhibition set up partly within its walls and partly on the streets of the city, so that it would remain usable by the public even if it is closed.

Fantasia takes place in two stages: until May 3, it presents about fifteen shots exhibited between the gallery’s halls and neighboring streets, in a diffuse itinerary that takes advantage of the spaces of the billboards; until May 24, it continues in the gallery alone where the most significant works can be seen there. The recommended route starts from the exhibition space, where it is possible to equip oneself with a map of the entire itinerary, and then winds its way through the streets of the neighborhood. Through the use of QR codes placed next to each photograph, the public can also access extra content that tells about the photographic project and its author. Karim El Maktafi’s photographs, which document moments of the Fantasia, a traditional Maghreb event, are intended to offer viewers an unexpected horizon other than what, for more than a year, most of the population has been accustomed to seeing. The photographs were taken in El Maktafi’s family’s hometown of Bouznika, thus establishing a connection with his roots. The project stems from his research on Maghreb folklore, traverses the memory of this traditional performance enjoyed as a child through television, to become a private experience. Identity, belonging and memory are the main themes of the work of Karim El Maktafi, who has been engaged in a project on Moroccan cultural heritage since 2015 (with Fantasia, he portrays a traditional sport that has its origins in theVIII century and that sanctions the union between man and his horse: tribal rituality, rural culture and religious tradition sync up in an equestrian and festive practice that celebrates moussem, or the sowing and harvesting ceremony, and the deities).

To some, however, the images bothered, and in an intolerant gesture crosses were added to the work. So El Maktafi thought to react by engaging street artist Zagom to create another work from the defacement. Thus were born two traditional sabers made from the two crosses. “Over the weekend someone decided to draw two crosses next to my pictures,” said El Maktafi. “We then thought of making this collaborative art intervention and Zagom modified the crosses into two beautiful sabers. A deplorable gesture was transformed into a beautiful gesture of solidarity between artists.”

Below are images of the defacement and the... reaction.

Before, defaced work

After

Milan, intolerant people vandalize works of artist Karim El Maktafi. And he reacts with art

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