Hicham Gardaf was born in Tangier, Morocco in 1989 and is now based in London, UK. His work often explores his personal relationships with specific places and people while simultaneously presenting the bigger picture they connect to. He works with photography and moving images by exploring themes of time, displacement, and transformation in relation to how they can present resistance to broader socio-political contexts.

In Praise of Slowness explores the daily life of a bleach seller in Tangier, Morocco. With the use of static shots, Gardaf presents images that almost look like a painting in motion. Besides the slow, mesmerizing shots of the city, we also get an insight on the rapidly changing Tangier, which has faced rapid evolution in recent years due to its role as a trading port. The city speed is contrasted with the local slowness of the daily life of a bleach seller who narrates his everyday routine. Both the film’s subject matter and its stylistic choices uncover a mode of resistance to capitalism.

The audio-visual elements of the film’s neighbourhood shots present a powerfully nostalgic counter to the technological and economic factors that contribute to the disappearance of local jobs and routines. By capturing such slowly disappearing images, the film praises the persistence of those who try and preserve their routines despite the changes surrounding them. As an essay film, it invites the spectator to engage in dialogue with the value of time and the consequence of irreversible progress.

In Praise of Slowness, together with A Letter from Yene, is part of a larger block exploring African coastal towns facing rapid economic transition, and its effects on the local community.