São Paulo – Amrik, a photography exhibit about the Arab presence in South America, has become permanent in Morocco since last week. The exhibition should be in Rabat, At the Hispanic and Portuguese Studies Institute (IEHL), to which it was donated. It was developed as a cultural activity in the sidelines of the first Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), which took place in 2005, in Brazilian capital Brasília. After the summit, the exhibition started travelling large cities in South America and the Arab world. Morocco was the last country to receive the exhibition and that is why it was donated to that country. The information was supplied by the ambassador of Brazil to Rabat, Virgílio Moretzsohn de Andrade.
The IEHL is connected to the Ministry of Culture of the Arab country and the aim is to promote culture and research about the countries whose populations speak Spanish and Portuguese. Andrade believes that, once permanent, the exhibition should attract people interested in the matter – the Arab influence in South America – and Arabs interested in South and Latin America. Morocco, recalls the Brazilian ambassador to Rabat had active participation in organisation of the Aspa. After 2005, there was another summit, in 2009, in Doha, Qatar.
At the inauguration of the permanent exhibition, professor Nezar Messari, in the International Relations area, spoke about the ties between the Arab and South American countries. Messari is Moroccan, but lived in Brazil for many years and worked at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in Rio de Janeiro. He recently returned to Morocco, also to be a university professor. Before becoming permanent at the IEHL, exhibition Amrik was shown at a gallery in Morocco, as part of the travelling project.
"Amrik" is what Arab immigrants who arrived in America called the region. Due to their strong accent, they could not pronounce the name of the region properly. Some of the exhibition’s images are historical and professional files of photographers and were taken in several countries in South America especially for the project. Spain, the United States and Switzerland also received the exhibition.
*Translated by Mark Ament
