A Photoessay
By Henry Robinson
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[dropcap]I[/dropcap] don’t trust cities that shine – where the colors are muted and uniform, the streets gridded, the walls glass panels that reflect the sky. They don’t seem dead so much as defensive in their cleanliness, as though they’re concealing something messy and shameful. An id.
Rabat is not one of those cities. Its medina, upscale residential areas, and poorer neighborhoods are covered with graffiti and street art – everything from punchy aphorisms to complex pictorial meditations on Moroccan culture. The sense they give is not so much one of “openness” or “friendliness” as honesty: an effusive, and yet carefully-considered, self-presentation that is as much for the residents as it is for the tourists.
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Henry is a rising senior in Silliman College. You can contact him at henry.robinson@yale.edu