SALEM — At the Solo Art Exhibition at Culture house, Indra Persad Milowe, a visual artist living and working in Salem, displayed her artwork from her journey to Morocco by setting up her six panels and 27 paintings. Some of her paintings come from the inspiration when she was on vacation in Morocco, others are of her childhood memories in Trinidad and Tobago.
“We are in 2022 and everything is so high tech, everyone wants to become fast and we tend to lose the sweetness we have,” said Milowe.
Hanging as a backdrop to her panels at the exhibition is the fabric of a turban, which is traditionally worn by those who live there, in Morocco.
One of her paintings symbolizes the hamsa, a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the North African and Middle East commonly used as jewelry.
“One is a personal hamsa and another one I saw in the window so I took a picture of it,” said Milowe.
“One of my highlights is a communal bakery,” said Milowe.
Many homes in Morocco do not have ovens, so they have a communal bakery in each city. People who go to the bakery take their dough, give it to the guy at the bakery and they come back at the end of the day to pick it up.
“I saw this woman had this tray which was covered so, I followed her to the bakery and I saw what she was doing,” said Milowe.
Milowe made a painting of a donkey in the Old City, symbolizing their importance in Moroccan culture. Donkeys are strong and a cheaper alternative to motorized vehicles. Agriculture is a main resource in Morocco and for many families who home there. There’s at least one donkey per farm that is to assist with pulling heavy work.
“People own donkeys and they use them for carrying luggage or anything,” said Milowe.
Milowe has a painting of two camels resting in front of a tent in the desert. When traveling to Saharan dunes people use camels to walk through these majestic dunes of Erg Chebbi in Merzouga that rise up to 150 meters.
“If you want to go to the Sarahan dunes you can take camels and camp out there,” she said.
Milowe’s display paintings are each a chapter into her journey through Morocco as a whole. She finds the uniqueness in traditional art forms, because of the amount of modernization in today’s society can be a bit much sometimes. She has shared her art pieces with the United States with the intention to expand education on other cultures.
Magella Cantara can be reached at [email protected].
