M’barek Bouhchichi’s practice is largely rooted in a sociopolitical agenda that centers race and indigenous issues in Moroccan society and history. To be a black Moroccan is to be subjected to an exclusionary national discourse and representation that declaim against belonging and admittance. Indeed, the sanctity of a white Morocco, which is an irrefutable illusion, a fantasy, lords over and sustains established constructions that otherize black identity, and hence, engulf it in collective memory. Borne out of a context that disavows this existence, Bouchichi conjures up the aesthetic to reify tangible testimonies of the historicity of a people. In doing so, he indulges in an activity of self-affirmation. Mots Essentiels (2023) is a continuation of a project that weaves together locally-characteristic poetry and crafts; a sculptural manifestation of a socio-aesthetic research. On five vertical wood and copper sticks, Bouhchichi carves and chisels verses by Mbarek Ben Zida, a black peasant poet whom he regards as a predecessor and a companion. Engraving Tamazight on matter, he establishes a visual language of collective resistance where orality is traced and materialized, yielding thus a poetic physicality to traditional black culture and crafts. The incised poem reads as follows, “I have taken a vow of celibacy and I will never marry as long as Zida is in this world. For in my heart there can be no place for any other woman”.