- Leisure
This is another old negative. In fact, this girl is the daughter of the man I call Saladin. If you didn’t see that photo, click on Morocco in the list to the right and you will find him . She is in her early teens and she embroiders for her sister’s upcoming wedding.
She was a good student in the village school and wanted to go to high school, but her grandfather, who is the patriarch of the family, refused his permission. I remember her looking at me as if asking for my help and I considered it, but who am I to interfere with their family? She bowed to her grandfather’s will and stayed home to help her mother and grandparents with no sign of resentment. Now she is happily married.
The room was dark and the morning light streaming through the window was very bright. This made for too much contrast, but here it is ok, I think, to let the room go black. There was nothing on the walls. Ordinary Berber famlies do not hang pictures or have any furniture. They prefer to sit on the floor.
Her scarf is tied in a stylish manner. Even when she was a little girl, she would cover her hair to look like her mother. It was cute as she was an energetic and fun loving child. Berber women don’t veil in their home village as the Arabized tribes might do. But they always cover their hair.
The women have many attractive ways to tie their scarves. They tie them tightly to their heads and do not let the fabric drape as you often see in photos of Muslim women. Women in Morocco also wear a djellaba which has a hood and when they go out of the home, they pull the hood over their head to avoid the sun.
I used Snap Art 3 to make this look painterly.