Detail

Dr Myriam Cherti and dignitaries at the British Library courtesy of Moroccan Memories in Britain.

A unique exhibition exploring the vibrant yet largely invisible Moroccan community in Britain has opened at the British Library.

Moroccan Memories In Britain explores the cultural and historical ties between Morocco and Britain and was organised by the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum (MRCF) and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The exhibition is divided into three main categories: Early Connections, Hidden Histories and Shared Heritage and will travel to a number of sites around Britain.

Hidden Histories covers the stories of Moroccans who have come to Britain over the last 40 to 50 years - a largely untold story until the project began recording first hand oral accounts that described in detail the individual journeys to Britain and the life experiences of British Moroccans since the 1960s.

“We found that Moroccans were largely invisible yet their numbers and their clusters were quite large,” said Zrinka Bralo, executive director of the MRCF. “They slip through the census categories and unless you check the census details and place of birth you would not find Moroccans. They tend to be categorised as Arabic speakers or by their religion.”

It is estimated that more than 50,000 Moroccans now live in Britain. Most of them came to the country over four decades between the 1960s and 1990s, tying in with social and economic changes in both Morocco and Britain. Earlier migrants tended to be looking for temporary employment and this later gave way to a search for long term settlement.

(Above) Moroccan Musicians at The British Library Courtesy of Moroccan Memories in Britain

119 individual oral histories have been produced by the project and submitted to the British Library Sound Archive and, as Moroccan Memories Project Coordinator Dr Myriam Cherti explains, it provided an important way of recording an often forgotten heritage.

“The first generation Moroccans that I spoke to had been here for 40 or 50 years and when we first started they felt they had no record of their history or heritage,” said Myriam, “and their children were not aware of their heritage and people wanted to do something about it.

“I hope that the project will start a lot of discussions and raise the profile of the Moroccan community in the UK. I think that the oral histories will serve as an educational tool for future generations and I hope that people continue to access the resources and use them.”

A specially commissioned film entitled Masaraat (Life Journeys), accompanies the exhibition and explores transnational memories across three generations through a mix of direct testimonies and observational documentary methods.

The film explores how Moroccans have formed their national and cultural identities and ends by asking whether they feel they are Moroccan or British.

“Everyone had very different experiences so it is hard to generalise but a lot of first generation Moroccans would still identify themselves a Moroccans in Britain where as the younger generation identified themselves as British Moroccans,” said co- director Saeed Taji Farouky.

(Above) Courtesy of Moroccan Memories in Britain

The touring exhibition paints a colourful picture of the rich history of British-Moroccan relations through the use of oral history, art, music and archive material and offers an interesting insight into Moroccan cultural identity in Britain.

The Early Connections section delves into the history of the early relationship between Britain and Morocco by exploring the diplomatic, social and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

There are well-known areas of history such as the British occupation of Tangiers and the longstanding trade relationship between the two countries but Early Connections also offers up some lesser-known facts about how Moroccans have influenced British society.

One example is that former Minister of Transport, Baron Leslie Hore-Belisha from the Moroccan community in Manchester, introduced the driving test and the zebra crossing with flashing Belisha Beacons – an innovation that dramatically reduced the number of road accidents in Britain.

The final section, Shared Heritage, considers how Moroccan heritage influences both British Moroccan and non-Moroccan artists and investigates how the British Moroccan community interacts with and views their own collective heritage.

Viewers get an insight into how young British Moroccans view their cultural identity through the schools outreach work on display. There are also examples of British-Moroccan fashion and art from designer Karima Bint Daoud and artist Mohssin Faraji that show how they have been influenced by Moroccan culture.

For more information on the Moroccan Memories in Britain Exhibition visit www.moroccanmemories.org.uk.