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Photos: Social media comes to the rescue of Morocco’s last woman potters

Women potters from Morocco are vanishing with time. The Sless tribe counted around 90 potters at the end of 1990s. Now, only a half-dozen remain. Several workshops and stores on the internet have helped acquired some recognition to these potters, like the Sumano association, which promotes Moroccan tribal women's handicrafts, places orders with the potters, buys the works, transports them to Spain and sells them at 20 times the local price on its website, promising to redistribute the income locally "when the business becomes profitable".

Updated on: Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM IST

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Moroccan potter Aicha Tabiz, also known as Mama Aicha, holds one of her works near the village of Ourtzagh in the foothills of the Rif Mountains. Beautiful handcrafted pottery made by Aicha rarely sells in Morocco anymore, but thanks to social media her ancient techniques are drawing students from around the world to the foothills of the Rif. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

Moroccan potter Aicha Tabiz, also known as Mama Aicha, holds one of her works near the village of Ourtzagh in the foothills of the Rif Mountains. Beautiful handcrafted pottery made by Aicha rarely sells in Morocco anymore, but thanks to social media her ancient techniques are drawing students from around the world to the foothills of the Rif. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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Mama Aicha sits next to British apprentice Kim West, 33, during a pottery workshop in the foothills of the Rif Mountains. Like everywhere in these mountains, women potters from the Sless tribe, to which Aicha Tabiz’s family belongs, are vanishing. The tribe counted around 90 potters at the end of 1990s. Now, only a half-dozen remain. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

Mama Aicha sits next to British apprentice Kim West, 33, during a pottery workshop in the foothills of the Rif Mountains. Like everywhere in these mountains, women potters from the Sless tribe, to which Aicha Tabiz’s family belongs, are vanishing. The tribe counted around 90 potters at the end of 1990s. Now, only a half-dozen remain. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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A neighbour watches as Houda Oumal sitting next to her mother Fatima Harama paints with natural pigments on one of her pieces of pottery, near the village of Ourtzagh in the region of Taounate. The ancestral knowledge that, according to some experts dates back to the Bronze Age, is being lost little by little due to a decline in the market. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

A neighbour watches as Houda Oumal sitting next to her mother Fatima Harama paints with natural pigments on one of her pieces of pottery, near the village of Ourtzagh in the region of Taounate. The ancestral knowledge that, according to some experts dates back to the Bronze Age, is being lost little by little due to a decline in the market. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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Volunteers from the “Terre des Femmes” (Women’s Earth) association have travelled to the Rif for years, collecting pottery from isolated farms and selling it to tourists from a small boutique in the capital Rabat. But the most famous is undoubtedly the artistic director of Dior, Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri, who recently put the Rif potters in the spotlight at a haute couture fashion show in Marrakesh. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

Volunteers from the “Terre des Femmes” (Women’s Earth) association have travelled to the Rif for years, collecting pottery from isolated farms and selling it to tourists from a small boutique in the capital Rabat. But the most famous is undoubtedly the artistic director of Dior, Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri, who recently put the Rif potters in the spotlight at a haute couture fashion show in Marrakesh. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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At 27, Houda Oumal, is one of few to want to “follow in the footsteps of her mother”. She lives with her parents at the top of a mountain amid the cannabis fields that make up, entirely illegally, the principal source of income of the Rif. She began to mould clay at the age of seven, but she does not read or write. There are five mosques in the community, but not a single school. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

At 27, Houda Oumal, is one of few to want to “follow in the footsteps of her mother”. She lives with her parents at the top of a mountain amid the cannabis fields that make up, entirely illegally, the principal source of income of the Rif. She began to mould clay at the age of seven, but she does not read or write. There are five mosques in the community, but not a single school. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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“When I heard about the workshop on Instagram, I signed up immediately because the practice is disappearing,” said Mirna Banieh, a young artist who travelled to Morocco from the West Bank town of Ramallah. “Mama Aicha is old and her knowledge must be passed down,” she added. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Updated on Jul 14, 2019 2:02 PM

“When I heard about the workshop on Instagram, I signed up immediately because the practice is disappearing,” said Mirna Banieh, a young artist who travelled to Morocco from the West Bank town of Ramallah. “Mama Aicha is old and her knowledge must be passed down,” she added. (Fadel Senna / AFP)

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