GSL Projekt is pleased to present The Ninja from Marrakech, a solo exhibition by artist Josep Maynou featuring a new series of hand woven artworks created in the mountain villages of Morocco. 

Over the past 2 years, Maynou has been traveling back and forth between Berlin and Morocco collecting fabrics and old clothes from the markets, streets and friends to bring to the small mountain villages outside of Marrakech. Here, he was able use the Boucherouite (Rag Rugs) technique to produce his works by learning from and working alongside the women weavers in their homes.

Mixing graphics and references of international pop-culture with the cultural exchange of social practice, Maynou bridges the international lived experience between urban and rural communities. The growing ubiquities of graphic icons such as happy faces, thumbs-up signs, graffiti, and English lettering, have become accepted baselines for cross-cultural platforms of communication across the language divide. A smiley face icon used on the cell phone of a Berber Shepard in the mountains of Morocco or a Start-Up Engineer in Berlin carry the same significance. For Maynou, these connecting points become the starting point for storytelling of the cross-cultural mash up of both real and imagined experiences.

The Ninja From Marrakech

You ask the guy who runs the Riad in Marrakech that you’re staying in where to buy good carpets.

"Come!" he says. 

Walking through the narrow streets, he is elegant and fast – able to anticipate and preview things before they occur. It’s like Spiderman with his spider sense.

Note about spider sense:
Spider-Sense is one of Spider-Man's most unique and prominent powers. The power itself originates as a tingling feeling at the base of his skull. Spider-Sense presents a psychological awareness of Spider-Man's surroundings. It allows Spider-Man to detect danger. The greater the danger or how close the danger is increases the tingling sensation. It also allows Spider-Man to navigate when unable to see or disoriented. It also helps Spider-Man fire his webshooters without having to concentrate every time he does so, greatly helping his ability to swing through the city. Spider-Sense is almost precognitive in nature and Spider-Man sometimes acts before realizing it.*

Thanks to his Spider-Sense, Spider-Man can typically dodge physical attacks, laser blasts, and even explosions.

In the air tonight by Phil Collins is the soundtrack that plays as the man guides you to buy the carpets. Suddenly he feels this tingling very strongly. He is the Ninja from Marrakech.

To be continued...