"Stories from Morocco" , born from the collaboration of about twenty Moroccan families of the Bab Sahara association of Turin with the heads of the Educational Services of the MAO and two curators of the Egyptian Museum, is the final result of a journey that began in the autumn of last year: in the course of numerous meetings and exchanges, the representatives of the two museums and the participants in the project carried out a reflection on the idea of memory and cultural heritage, culminating in the exhibition that opens at the MAO on 13 June.

The objects kept in museums have a value that derives from their ability to tell and transmit an individual or collective history and memory: the archaeological finds and the works on display are therefore witnesses of an identity and a culture . In the same way, some objects, chosen among many by those who leave their homes to settle in another country, take on a different value and are transformed into vehicles for the transmission of a living memory: they become a patrimony of material culture.

Based on these assumptions, the participants in the project were asked to imagine an ideal museum where to collect and show their cultural baggage, their identity and the traditions brought to Italy from Morocco . The families, and in particular the women, have therefore selected personal objects that testify to the memory of their country and, together with the staff of the museum, have finally taken care of every detail of the small exhibition, from the choice of materials to the display in the window to the writing. captions. In the passage from the object to its story, the material heritage has been enriched with a precious immaterial aspect of memory and testimony: the material culture and personal memories of the participants take shape in many narratives linked to iconic objects.

The theme of the exhibition scheduled at the MAO is "Kits and beauty" : among the objects selected by the women of the Bab Sahara association who participated in the project we therefore find a wedding dress of the Berber tradition, the necessary for the hammam ritual and a teapot.

The entrance to “Stories from Morocco. Objects witnesses of identity and memory ” is free.