It’s Kinda Bad

There are many places in the world with a harsh lifestyle caused by poverty, drugs, violence, and a lack of law enforcement. The poor neighborhoods in Casablanca have all of those and possibly more.  We meet a Moroccan student in Prague who grew up in one of these neighborhoods in Casablanca.

Ayoub Motaraf is a former fine arts student from Morocco. He was born and raised in the poor neighborhoods of Casablanca until the age of 6.  In this interview, Ayoub describes what it’s like to live as a child in such a neighborhood, and what he experienced and witnessed in his everyday life. A youb also talks about some personal family-related issues and events that reflect upon what life is like there...

Did you choose your parents or your name or your home?

In the next piece of audio, Ayoub talks to me about an artwork he made that reflects on his life, from the past and present. The artwork revolves around the fact that he did not choose how his life or his childhood are, and how this affects and changes him as a person. The artwork consists of equal sized colorful square papers with questions on them, those papers are stuck to a wall closely together with a cut out of Ayoub in the middle. The questions on the papers address personal topics to the audience of the artwork, such as parents and purpose in life.