Storytelling
A CULTURE OF ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES
TWO REMARKABLE WOMEN CROSSED OUR PATH — ONE AN ARTIST, THE OTHER A PEACEMAKER, BOTH MOROCCAN-AMERICAN. BOTH ENVISIONED A PLACE LIKE BLACK ROCK CITY WELL BEFORE THEY TOUCHED DOWN, AND WERE SURPRISED BY HOW CLOSELY THE PLAYA MATCHED THEIR IMAGINATIONS.
THROUGH HER EXPERIENCES AND THE PEOPLE SHE MET IN BLACK ROCK CITY, YASMINE ELBAGGARI EMBARKED ON A MISSION TO DELIVER HUMANITARIAN AID.
TWO DAYS AFTER RETURNING FROM BLACK ROCK CITY, YASMINE ELBAGGARI TRAVELED TO MOROCCO, where she helped deliver more than two million hot meals to earthquake victims. “I was there for a month… on the helicopter team delivering food and medical supplies to the hundreds of villages that were destroyed.”
Participating in Black Rock City helps Yasmine believe in a better world. “I could see a vision I had dreamed of, one where people are interconnected and kind to each other. Seeing the creativity and the possibilities that stem from that openness gave me so much hope.”
“We go to Burning Man to prepare for the world,” Yasmine observed. “That’s our one week when we get to build our resilience, build our capacity, emotional, spiritual, physical, and then to go back and serve in the world and be able to give back.”
BURNING MAN INSPIRED HIND BAGHDADI TO BECOME AN ARTIST; FROM THERE SHE ACQUIRED THE SKILLS AND DRIVE TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE.
Hind Baghdadi is the creator of “Moroccan ParTea,” which welcomed deep playa explorers with tea, shade and community. She first saw the Black Rock Desert in a dream. Once there, Hind began to forge a new path for herself. “Someone said to me, ‘You never know. One day your art could be on playa.’ His words were magic in my head, in my heart. And I didn’t doubt.”
Creating “Moroccan ParTea” challenged Hind in unanticipated ways. “I wanted to build it in Morocco using my culture’s techniques. As soon as I started, I saw the complications, the different treatment because I’m a woman. But they did not know how dedicated I was, and that I knew how to use all the tools. Whatever I didn’t know, I learned.”
I didn’t live until I made art. Burning Man unlocked a door that I never even thought existed in me, or I knew existed, but never dared to open. It was open at Burning Man, and not only protected, but loved and promoted.
~ HIND BAGHDADI, Artist
