These photos represent a collaborative project between the people of Tagharghist, a village in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, photographer Bart Deseyn, and anthropologist David Crawford. They will form part of a forthcoming book that explores the changing lives of high altitude farmers and shepherds in Morocco. The photos are on display at the entrance to the Dimenna Nyselius Library. These original prints will be auctioned off at the end of the spring semester 2009 and the money returned to the villagers. Contact David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu if you are interested in bidding on any of them. |
Photo 1 1 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu This is the village of Tagharghist, in the Agoundis River Valley, High Atlas, Morocco. It sits at about 5,300 feet above sea level. Villagers support themselves by herding sheep and goats, and by growing barley, maize, walnuts and almonds using a complicated gravity fed irrigation system. There are well over a 1,200 irrigated plots in the village, owned by 29 different households. archival silver gelatine print, 14 x 17.5 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 2 1 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Before 1996 the only way into the valley was on foot. Now a road allows trucks to visit and has facilitated a host of changes. Behind the truck is a hostel for tourists, identifiable by the sewage pipes leading down to the road. A potable water system was installed in 1998 and the first toilets shortly thereafter. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 3 0 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Lahcen ben Mohamed and Brahim Id Baj are sitting outside the village mosque, which is the building to the right of the photo. The center of the village, the “assarag,” is visible behind them. archival silver gelatine print, 14 x 17.5 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 4 1 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu This is the “assarag,” an open space at the center of the village where dances, singing, and other communal events are held at night. It is accessible via three tunnels. archival silver gelatine print, 14 x 17.5 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 5 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Fadma Ait Ben Ouchen is standing outside her house. She is clearly a trusted person in her household, as she carries the keys to the family’s supplies of soap, tea, oil and grain. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 6 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Fatima Id Baj poses with her son Hisham and her new daughter Zahara in their best clothes. Fatima had two daughters die before this one survived. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 7 0 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu This is Fatima’s kitchen. The takat, or ovens, are visible in the center. When she marries a woman fashions herself an oven from mud and will use it to bake the bread that sustains the family.
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Photo 8 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Brahim Ait Ben Ouchen stands in the river, wearing boots given to him by a departing Peace Corps volunteer. His last name, which means “people of the jackal,” was given to Brahim’s great grandfather for his determined resistance to a regional warlord. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 9 0 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Brahim stands next to the Agoundis River after a downpour has caused the water to rise. Flash floods are a lethal danger. The boulders under Brahim were deposited there by an enormous flood in 1995. archival silver gelatine print, 14 x 17.5 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 10 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Fatima Ait Baybork from the Idzdo lineage pauses from harvesting fodder that she will bring to her cow. The trails are too steep for the cows to walk to the fields, so women must bring the grass to the cows. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 11 0 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Women turn to chat on their way from hauling maize stalks up to the village. They will store them for winter fodder for their animals. This is one of the main paths from the fields down near the river up to the village. archival silver gelatine print, 14 x 17.5 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 12 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Aicha Ait Ben Ouchen and Naima Idzdo pose near a boulder at the base of the village. Now that there are more consumer products in the village, trash has become an issue and the soot marks on the rocks show where someone has tried to burn non-biodegradable packaging. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 13 1 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu This is the view from the village looking downriver. Two girls hauling barley to be threshed are visible in the foreground, just next to a shrine to a 12th century agurram, or “saint.”
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Photo 14 1 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Children play on the road to the higher villages. The gorge behind them is several hundred feet deep and is the inspiration for the name of the village, “place by the deep canyon.” archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 15 0 bids 100 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu Mohammed Arbuz poses in the winter pastures above the village, at approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. He takes turns shepherding with his grown son, sometimes working in ten day shifts. archival silver gelatine print, 11.5 x 14 inch, mounted on acid free cardboard, in a black painted wood frame.
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Photo 16 1 bids 125 $ send your bid to David Crawford at dcrawford@mail.fairfield.edu The herds leave the azib, or “shepherd’s hut,” to forage during the day. Because these are the lower pastures, there are some sheep mixed in with the goats. The higher pastures, at 10,000 – 13,000 feet above sea level, are suitable only for goats.
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