Zina Louhaichy Honours Moroccan Heritage In a Bold New Visual Project
Zina Louhaichy Honours Moroccan Heritage In a Bold New Visual Project
As a Moroccan woman born and raised in NYC, artist and designer Zina Louhaichy has always existed at a cultural crossroads, belonging to both and neither at the same time. Her latest body of work isn't merely an exploration of heritage - it's a reclamation of identity, and a visual love letter to all the women who came before her.
In BLADI (بلادي) - Arabic for 'my homeland' - Louhaichy embarks on an intimate journey through self-portraiture. Inspired by early 20th century Moroccan postcards, many of which were shot through a colonial lens, the project reclaims those once-exoticised images by placing the narrative - and the camera - in Louhaichy's own hands.
'Some of these women I've only met through photographs,' Louhaichy tells SceneStyled. 'But they all live in my blood.'
In the photographs, Louhaichy dresses in heirloom pieces that connect her to her family's past: her father's Qur'an, a takchita reminiscent of her great-grandmother's wardrobe, and jewellery rich with ancestral memory. She wears her identity on her sleeve - and on her hands: the Moroccan star inked in henna on one, and the iconic Yankees logo on the other. This is a merging of worlds, of culture, and of eras, fused together on the camera lens. The result is not only visually striking, but evocative: a celebration of Moroccan womanhood rendered with a genuine authenticity, creativity, and deep reverence.
The project continues with Diaspora Passport (جواز سفر الشتات), a conceptual expansion of BLADI which finds definition in that liminal space between Morocco and New York. Creating a fictional passport, Louhaichy reimagines bureaucratic instruments of identity not as restrictive labels but as vehicles of empowerment. Here, the passport becomes a symbol of movement and belonging unbound by national borders and monolithic identities.
'Home for me exists in a Yankees symbol,' Louhaichy shares. 'In Casablanca at sunrise when the streets are quiet and the call to prayer echoes through the city. It's sitting with my Meema for hours, working on my Darija, exhausted from messing up too many times but persevering anyway.'
Maximalist and vibrant, the visual language of the project is unapologetically assured. Wearing a custom Yankee brim, redesigned in Moroccan red and green by Opiyel, and the Noire Lace Bele top from her eponymous label Louhaichy (لوحيشي), a confident Zina carves out her identity in clear, bold lines. On the back of her one hand, a henna 'passport stamp' reads "المغرب" ('Morocco'), adorned with Amazigh symbols. On the other hand, stamps of both the US and Morocco mark the emotional cartography of her soul.
In this body of work, Zina Louhaichy transcends the borders that once fragmented her sense of self, forging a space where heritage and hybridity coexist. It's a powerful act of healing - one that redefines home not as a place but a feeling, a symbol, an expression, and ultimately, a portrait.
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