Magnum photographers lens a vivid ’Portrait of Marrakech’ in a new exhibition

The David Chipperfield-designed Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Art (MMP+) is set to be the largest of its kind when it is completed in 2016. In anticipation of its launch, MMP+ invited five photographers from Magnum Photos to depict the city through their individual lenses over a two-week period. The resulting exhibition, titled ‘Portrait of Marrakech’, was curated on site by the French lecturer and African-art pundit Simon Njami, and can be seen at Marrakech’s historic El Badi Palace - the museum's temporary home - until 1 February 2014. Here, we bring you the highlights from their endeavours...
Susan Meiselas: At her pop-up studio in Marrakech’s Medina, Susan Meiselas photographed local women, then gave them the option of having the image displayed or taking 20 dirhams. For those that chose the latter, the 20 dirham note was featured instead of the portrait, resulting in a compelling piece of social storytelling.
Mikhael Subotzky: Taking to the back of a motorbike, Mikhael Subotzky mounted six cameras to a makeshift 'magic wand'. The resulting film - a still from which is pictured here - made for a fascinating, and at times dizzying, insight.
Abbas: ‘The shadow, a dark light becomes a metaphor for the city,’ says Iranian native Abbas, whose dramatic black and white images feature the narrow, walled streets of the Medina.
Jim Goldberg: The offering from Jim Goldberg is a range of monochrome and colour images that portray everyday life in the Moroccan city. ‘Respect is accepting everything as it is and not looking away,’ he says.
Mark Power: Beautifully capturing the city’s hues, Mark Power merged images in a series of impressive, large-format composites.
ADDRESS
Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Art
El Badi Palace
Marrakech
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Ashlyn, the quietly romantic New York label from a Yohji Yamamoto alumna
The focus of our latest Uprising column, Seoul-born Ashlyn Park worked for fashion greats before starting her own label in 2020. Showing her S/S 2026 collection at NYFW yesterday, she talks to Wallpaper* about marrying Japanese influences with the romance of Parisian savoir-faire
-
'There is no way light and darkness are not in exchange with each other': step inside Christelle Oyiri’s sonic world in Berlin
In an explosion of light and sound, Christelle Oyiri explores celebrity, mythology and religion inside CANK, a former brutalist shopping centre in Berlin’s Neukölln
-
A family home turns into an immersive exhibition space for London Design Festival
Ceramicist Emma Louise Payne displays design in domestic surrounds for group show ‘The Objects We Live By’
-
‘People are really in their element’: Martin Parr on capturing bar culture, and his look back with Campari
Magnum Photos and Campari join forces for ‘Bar Stories on Camera’, currently on view in Turin, including works by Martin Parr
-
New Magnum Square Print Sale: what to buy, from Roger Deakins to Alfredo Jaar
The new Magnum Square Print Sale (17–23 April 2023) looks beyond the agency’s roster for the first time, inviting artists, filmmakers, and fellow photographers to join alongside Magnum Photographers
-
Magnum Photos launches new Square Print Sale
Titled ‘Now’, the latest Magnum Photos print sale (until 23 October 2022) features work from 31 photographers, curated with The Photographers’ Gallery, London
-
Olivia Arthur on expanding photography and minimising preconceptions
‘Through the lens’ is our monthly series that spotlights photographers who are Wallpaper* contributors. Here we explore the vision of Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur
-
Sensuality and strength: Olivia Arthur photographs Saint Laurent for new exhibition
Olivia Arthur is one of six photographers taking part in the latest chapter of Saint Laurent’s ‘Self’ project – this time, an exhibition in collaboration with Magnum Photos. Here, she tells Wallpaper* more
-
Magnum Photos’ new Paris gallery spotlights past and future
Magnum Photos expands its footprint with a new gallery space in Paris, inaugurated with multigenerational joint show ‘Bruce Davidson & Khalik Allah: New York’
-
Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur on ‘culture, people and machines’
The Photography Show 2021 at the NEC Birmingham hosts a discussion forum where visual talent views the world via the prism of humanity and technology, imagination and reality
-
Magnum photographers on finding escape in image-making
Available at $100 each until 18 July 2021, Magnum Photos square print sale captures different ways to find escapism, break free or make a getaway