For the past months, I have been documenting the collective memory of Casablanca's Central Market by recording the voices of its vendors telling me their stories.

Built in 1917 under French colonization by the architect Pierre Bousquet, who designed many other facilities in the city such as the civil hospital, the post office, or the stock exchange, the market was popular among wealthy Europeans.

The goods were expensive and the traders, mostly Jews, carefully chosen. In 1953, The French authorities deposed King Mohammed Ben Youssef (later Mohammed V) and replaced him with the puppet king Ben Arafa. Nationalists demanded the return of the legitimate king, prompting a series of bombings including an attack at the Central Market.

The bomb exploded on Christmas day in the butcher's alley, killing several Europeans.
A ruthless repression ensued.
In 1956, Morocco attained independence.

The story of the bombing has been passed down to today’s merchants, along with the stores their parents ran.

Since the 1980s, urban and sociological evolutions, such as the emergence of supermarkets, or the tramway have wildly altered the market’s frequentation. As its elegant clientele vanished, declining sales drove the owners to rent out their stores, and cheap eateries developed anarchically.

Current threats to the market’s survival are food delivery services and real estate appetites.