Sbagha Bagha Street Art

Sbagha Bagha - roughly, the paint wants to - is a street art project run in Casablanca since 2016 by the Boultek cultural centre, which each year commissions a group of Moroccan and international artists to paint full-height murals on the gable ends of residential apartment blocks in districts that are not on any visitor route: Sbata, Hay Mohammadi, Ain Sebaa and others. The scale is the point - these are eight and ten storeys of blank concrete turned over to one image - and so is the siting, since the audience is the people who live in the building and the street rather than a gallery public. Subjects range from portraiture and Moroccan iconography to abstraction. Seeing them means driving or taxiing between working residential districts with a list, which is not a curated trail, and the project publishes locations. Hay Mohammadi is also the historic home of Nass El Ghiwane and Moroccan popular music.

What you actually see

• Full-height gable murals - eight and ten storeys of apartment block given to one image.
• Non-tourist districts - Sbata, Hay Mohammadi and Ain Sebaa rather than the centre.
• An annual commission - Moroccan and international artists invited each year since 2016.
• A resident audience - work sited for the people who live in the street.

When to go

October to April. Half a day, with a list of locations and a taxi.

Honest expectations

There is no marked trail - you need addresses and transport. The districts are ordinary residential areas, not attractions, and photographing people needs care. Some murals have faded or been built over. Locations change as new ones are added.

Nearby

Hay Mohammadi holds the Boultek centre; central Casablanca is west.