ENTRY DESCRIPTION
I met a gang of boys in Fes, in the old medina, and I attended them on several trips for about three years, as a guest in their home. I lived with them the daily life of small tips from lost tourists in the alleys of the medina or from the gain in the sale of hashish. Despite their respect for Ramadan, these boys suffer enormously from the closure of the border with Spain, their only desire is to escape. Islam does not stand comparison with Europe, wealth and beautiful women; and the scars on their skin explain it loud and clear.

Self-injury in our society, much more common among teenagers than we think, is experienced as a shame to hide. In the tcharmil culture, on the other hand, it is a symbol to show off with pride, a scream that triggers social horror. In Morocco this form of self-harm is older than this contemporary subculture but the youth gangs have adopted it as a symbol, as an emblem of their rebellion and desire to escape. After all, the skin is our limit and in this case, opening a gash of it also takes on the meaning of alleviating a much greater inner suffering than physical pain. An extreme act of self-harm much more similar to what prisoners do than western teenagers. It is no coincidence that the prison represents one of the worst conditions of deprivation of liberty, probably as the young tcharmil live their reality in Morocco within the Islamic rules.

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