Girl in Red, Tangier

When the European Union implemented the Schengen Agreement in 1985, Moroccans without visas were no longer allowed to freely cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Europe. People continued to leave the country, in search of better economic opportunities, making the Strait an area of illegal passage. Yto Barrada, a French-Moroccan photographer, began working on the series "A Life Full of Holes" in 1998, with an interest in documenting how the desire to leave inscribes itself in the everyday lives of Tangiers' inhabitants and the city's public and private spaces. A constant throughout the series is the many people photographed with their backs to the camera (as seen here, in the Girl in Red, Tangier). Indeed, this lack of interaction with Barrada (and by extension the viewer) suggests the alienation that results from a society preoccupied with leaving for another place.
In an effort to increase the country's economic viability, the Moroccan government has set up a number of Free Trade Zones, with the largest in Tangiers. The lure of low taxes coupled with inexpensive labor is meant to entice companies to Morocco, provide jobs, and revitalize the nation. Whether this is a better deal for the Moroccan government or for the foreign investors they are pandering to is certainly debatable. In her series, Barrada traces the response of Moroccans to both the forces of globalization that have contributed to the institution of Free Trade Zones and the effects of the closed border. Their responses can be found in the minutiae of everyday life and it is these moments that Barrada captures, realizing that they communicate the experience of living in a society that is struggling to subsist as a result of departure and loss.