Leila Alaoui

 From the top of a five-storey building in Tangier, a woman stares at passers-by with an intense, almost defiant gaze. We can  recognize the sparkling eyes and the gentle, smiling face of Leila Alaoui, painted on the facade of the building by Mouad Aboulhana. The Tangier artist wanted to pay tribute to the Franco-Moroccan photographer who disappeared in 2016, at the age of 33, victim of a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

The creation of this mural was actually brutally interrupted in full creation. “After four days of work, the authorities asked me to erase the eyes from the portrait, even though I have permission. Of course, I refused,” says Mouad Aboulhana. Without giving any explanation, the men grabbed a can of white paint and covered the portrait's eyes, nose and finally the mouth with brush strokes. “They are going to destroy my work ,” the graffiti artist was indignant in a video posted the same day on his Instagram account.

As always in Morocco , it was on social networks that the battle was then played out. Within hours, the artist's video went viral. Internet users have denounced an “obscurantist act” towards the one who has become a symbol of openness in her native country. “This kind of controversy is generally debated in Moroccan society. But, this time, everyone agreed, because Leila is an icon for all Moroccans, explains her mother, Christine Alaoui. For us, erasing it was like a second death. » 
After a few calls the artist was allowed to finish his work.