‘X’

Tamnougalt. Morocco

2017

I have always been drawn to places where landscape and community are inseparable from the act of making. My time at the Creative Den Foundation Artist Residency in Tamnougalt, Morocco, was a two-month residency supported by the Creative Den Foundation and a STEP Travel bursary.

During this residency, I collaborated with the local Berber community in traditional mud brick production, henna harvesting and drying techniques. This site-responsive project was part of my broader practice of immersive knowledge exchange through travel to diverse cultures and terrains. Tamnougalt is a Berber village of about 500 inhabitants near the small town of Agdz in the Draa Valley of southern Morocco. It is known for its historic Kasbah—a fortified mud-brick village—and was once the capital of the Mezguita region. Its name means "meeting point" in Tachelhit (Berber). It was within this landscape of earth, architecture, and ancestral knowledge that the 'X' motif became central to my residency work. In Berber culture, the X symbol carries profound meaning serves as a spiritual safeguard against the evil eye and unseen misfortune. At the same time, the X embodies the harmonious meeting of masculine and feminine energies, expressing unity, balance, and the interconnected paths that sustain family and community.In some Berber traditions, the X also symbolizes the arms and legs of a woman ready to conceive, weaving a narrative of fertility and the cycle of life. For me, the X became more than a symbol—it was a method. Its intersecting lines mirrored the crossing of paths between myself and the community, between traditional craft and contemporary art-making, between the material of the earth and the form it takes. My residency motif emerged from this understanding: the X as a meeting point, a protective mark, and a gesture of connection—precisely what Tamnougalt itself means.