The shared stand of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Council for the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) at the International Book and Publishing Fair (SIEL) in Rabat, invited Myriem Sebti, editor-in-chief of Diptyk magazine, on Monday 21 April 2025. Ms Sebti introduced the special edition dedicated to Moroccan artists living abroad in partnership with the CCME. The event was moderated by journalist Amine Boushaba.
On behalf of the Council of the (CCME), Diptyk magazine has published a special issue, dedicated to artists from the Moroccan diaspora for SIEL 2025. This issue highlights Moroccan artists living abroad, exploring their link between Morocco and their host countries.
The publication of the archives of the 71 publications since 2009 offers an in-depth reflection on Moroccan artistic identity and diaspora. The issue in question is a special edition, without a classic issue, designed especially for the SIEL event.
According to Myriem Sebti, the work on this edition, christened “Mahjar” (migration), is nothing new, since “since our creation, the magazine has always maintained a strong presence in Morocco and a foreign presence”.
Driss El Yazami, President of the CCME, gave us a “very simple and clear presentation in which he explained that the SIEL’s main theme would be Moroccans living abroad, and rather than having an exhibition on the stand, it would be interesting to have a special issue of Diptyk on the subject”.
The magazine was therefore “challenged to reconsider whole aspects of Moroccan art from a new point of view, that of the 2010s, generated by a generation that has pushed us to consider the notion of modern art in Morocco”.
Work on migration calls naturally for “ a deconstruction of terminology associated with it ”, says the artist. “Diaspora is a highly debated term of multiple meanings, which allowed us to get to work on a particular issue very quickly”.
This word comes with a connotation of forced exile or involuntary departure. The editorial therefore begins with “a straightforward definition of the word in order to smooth it out, defuse it and keep it to its original meaning, even if we have questioned all these connotations in the themes addressed, be it identity, migration, etc.”.
The edition also analyzes terms such as circulation – that of people, artists’ ideas, works, exhibitions, or the term “exile” – to which we’ve added a new dimension.
The CCME president also said that he preferred the idea of rootedness to that of integration’. He also discusses the definition of ‘what it means to be a Moroccan of the world who is integrated or rooted in other host societies’.
For the journalists at Diptyk, the special Moroccans of the World issue was mainly an opportunity to explore countries other than France, as the diaspora is as large as the earth. Moroccan artists can be found in Sweden and Latin America, because movement is inherent in art’.
